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Luka Vuskovic

It's sad to see him go but it's also partially funding one of the most momentus weeks in our history - I mean - come on - Martin Dubravka!! 🤪

In all seriousness losing a guy who wants to go and who is unproven in the league for that amount of money is good business today. It might not be if he ends up being the next Alessandro Nesta but sometimes the dice has to be thrown.

With the team we are building we may look back on the sale of Vuskovic as part of the catalyst that propelled one of the best phases in our history.

Mancity - no pep
Liverpool - new boss
Man utd - small squad for champions league + premier league
Chelsea - new boss

If we can go toe to toe with the goons we will be there or there abouts....
 
It's unfortunate he's moving on without us ever having seen him pull a shirt on for us in anger. And I would have liked a higher fee, all things considered.

But - the deal we did get, isn't bad. We essentially quadrupled our money on the kid, plus a sell on fee in case he ends up exploding into superstardom. I'm discounting the buyback because those rarely end up being triggered by clubs like us - only Madrid and the like, whom everyone wants to play for and would gladly return to.

He's one of the brightest talents in world football, and I don't blame him for wanting the best for his career. But, at the same time, I feel like we've already extracted as much 'upside' as the club could get, financially (leaving aside on-pitch concerns for a moment).

Say he becomes a superstar that Brighton sell on for 120m (an unheard-of fee for a center-back, but bear with me). Firstly, that's about 14m more to us (20% of the base profit of 70m) - secondly, that's a net profit for Brighton of about 56m on a 50m signing. We would already have netted more than that just by selling him at this fee to begin with, when you add in the sell-on fee.

And on the pitch, yes, he could turn out brilliant and we could end up regretting letting him go. In an ideal world he'd have been our Saliba. But the risk factor of him not developing to his potential exists, and it would have been heightened if the kid threw a strop this early in his career at not getting a move he, and his agent, were pushing for.

So, good luck to the kid. Sad we couldn't keep him, but I can't blame him for putting his career first. We couldn't start him, Brighton can.
 
I think a main issue was the suspicion that he would not sign an extension so we would need to sell him next year; when he would not likely have increased in value from the current level. As for the level of the fee... it is what - if we are lucky - we will get for Romero, an experienced world cup wnner. That's saying something....
 
I see Brighton has signed Michael Svoboda and recently signed Pascal Struijk - both centre-backs. They already have Lewis Dunk, Igor Julio, Adam Webster and Diego Coppola - 6 centre-backs in all! I wonder if Vuskovic will be calling his agent?
 
Vuskovic will likely end up having a great career... IF he can get rid of some of his entourage. His agent is trying to move him on every other year in order to make a quick buck. He's got the talent, there's little doubt about that, but at some point, he will need stability and stability in a club befitting his current standing in the game. It's a difficult puzzle to solve and switching clubs whenever your agent needs a new Ferrari.

I'm sure we'll miss him, but the circumstances are what they are: we can't give him what he wants and the money will be better spent elsewhere.
 
Jurgen the German said:
This has probably already been said, but should we not be alarmed by the fact that Brighton want him? They are usually pretty good judges of character when it comes to incoming transfers.
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It appears that its a set of circumstances here. RdZ has established we need senior first choice players, and based on the second half of 2024, pretty much the whole of 2025 and then last season we need far more mental strength and grit. The easiest way to achieve that is with established players, and Vuskovic wants to become established but he's not there yet.

Objectively his mobility is an issue which will need him to adapt quickly to the speed of our league - I think with his ability he will adapt, but it might take 25 games and some hard lessons for him to get there. Brighton is a place where he won't get hauled over the coals like we do to players.

There's a romantic notion that we let him spend two years at Brighton and then bring him back as a far more experienced and accomplished 22 year old. With our new penchant for outbidding our competition it's plausible we won't be beaten to him, if he wants to come back.

I personally wonder if his physicality and skillset might mean he will be better suited to the Italian or Spanish Leagues. I'd be delighted for him if he goes abroad and smashes it. He just can't end up at Emirates Marketing Project or chelski.
 
Mr Gogolak said:
Vuskovic will likely end up having a great career... IF he can get rid of some of his entourage. His agent is trying to move him on every other year in order to make a quick buck. He's got the talent, there's little doubt about that, but at some point, he will need stability and stability in a club befitting his current standing in the game. It's a difficult puzzle to solve and switching clubs whenever your agent needs a new Ferrari.

I'm sure we'll miss him, but the circumstances are what they are: we can't give him what he wants and the money will be better spent elsewhere.
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i am not so sure. i have always been sceptical about his mobility and his build and capabilties is tracking exactly like eric dier's.
maybe the game will change to suit vuskovic's traits in a few year's time, but as it is his lack of pace and poor turning ability makes him a weak point in any high line defence.
 
There are some legendary centre backs that played til they were 40 e.g. Pepe, Chiellini, Thiago Silva etc etc who presumably lost a lot of their pace as they got older and older, so there must be systems where a slightly slower CB can flourish in the right league and still flourish at CL level.

If I had to bet, I would bet that Vuskovic does make it big and does have a great career. In particular his goalscoring knack is crazy, I remember watching him play for Spurs vs Reading (how many of you can say that!) and of course it was Vuskovic who scored for us with a shot from the edge of the box. It wasn't spectacular or world beating, it was just that everyone else was ballsing up the attacks so he just lumbered forwards and scored. Simple.

But yes, taking about £50m plus for a kid who has never played, is great business and we can revisit him after someone else has trained him up.
 
Mr Gogolak said:
Vuskovic will likely end up having a great career... IF he can get rid of some of his entourage. His agent is trying to move him on every other year in order to make a quick buck. He's got the talent, there's little doubt about that, but at some point, he will need stability and stability in a club befitting his current standing in the game. It's a difficult puzzle to solve and switching clubs whenever your agent needs a new Ferrari.

I'm sure we'll miss him, but the circumstances are what they are: we can't give him what he wants and the money will be better spent elsewhere.
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Where does the agent thing come from? Has it been confirmed that Vuskovic doesn't actually want to leave?
 
revlis said:
Where does the agent thing come from? Has it been confirmed that Vuskovic doesn't actually want to leave?
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Its a way to criticise without being seen to be criticising the player so they blame someone adjacent ie. the agent. Forgetting the agent works for the player to advocate their wishes.
 
Disappointing but hard to get to upset as I've never seen him play. Only slight worry is if we sell him and Bargvall then how will other youngsters look at us? We need to be seen as a club that can attract the best youngsters in football and give them a path to the first team.
 
P.D. said:
Disappointing but hard to get to upset as I've never seen him play. Only slight worry is if we sell him and Bargvall then how will other youngsters look at us? We need to be seen as a club that can attract the best youngsters in football and give them a path to the first team.
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I think this thing about needing to show a great pathway is a bit overplayed tbh.

For starters we signed him as a 16 year old, arranged a couple of good loans for him and selling him for big money which was his wishes - I hardly think young players are going to look at that negatively.

Chelsea hardly show a great pathway for young players, yet still sign some of the top talent year after year. And if young players are good enough they tend to get games for us, Vuskovic is a bit of a special case. Tel, Gray and Bergvall are amongst those who have seen plenty of minutes over the past couple of seasons, and if others were good enough they would too but until that time they will be out on loan....
 
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