Luka Vuskovic is by far the most talented young player Tottenham Hotspur have on their books right now — more than Mikey Moore, BIG WILLY LANKS, Yang Minheok, or any other player Spurs have. He positively exploded this season while on loan at Bundesliga club Hamburg, making the Team of the Season as a 19-year-old and causing even huge clubs like Bayern Munich to slobber over the possibility of signing him.
To be clear — Spurs have no intention of selling Luka. He’s under contract until 2030 and unless
a club comes in with an absolutely ludicrously expensive bid, that’s a no-go. So Spurs fans shouldn’t be concerned with losing him, but there’s still a good amount of angst about where his immediate future lies. Previous reports had suggested that Luka could head back out on loan to Hamburg for another season where he could play with his brother, who is also at Hamburg.
However, a report in MOPO.de seemed to suggest that there’s very little chance of Vuskovic returning to Hamburg next season, with the paper suggesting a “99.9% chance” he rejoins Spurs. Vuskovic pretty much said his goodbyes to Germany, as his loan formally ended and he’s once again a Tottenham Hotspur player.
However, check out this report from Athletic writer and noted Spurs fans Seb Stafford-Bloor:
To me, this suggests something different — not about Luka Vuskovic, but about Cuti Romero. Vuskovic is clearly an excellent talent, and while I have hypothesized that he might not (yet) be quite ready for Premier League football, the ambiguity over his immediate future suggests that the club still doesn’t know whether they’ll have Romero, their club captain, next season or not.
If Romero is in the team, he’s a starter alongside Micky van de Ven. Kevin Danso and (presumably) Marcos Senesi would be backing them up, assuming Radu Dragusin is moved on this summer. (We’ll just skip over Kota Takai, who hasn’t yet played a minute in a Spurs shirt.) That doesn’t leave a whole lot of minutes for Luka as ostensibly a 5th CB on a Premier League team that will not have European match fixtures next season.
So I hypothesize that Luka’s future is tied to Romero’s. If Cuti stays, I think Luka will go back out on loan, possibly back to Hamburg or another team that would gladly take him and play him regularly. If Romero leaves, however, that opens up a slot for Vuskovic to come in and either start or be a very solid rotation option in the back line alongside Senesi
That’s my best guess, anyway. It would explain a lot — why Spurs are dithering over Vuskovic’s place in the squad, and why it’s not already clear whether he’ll be heading back out on loan or not. Luka is an amazing talent and he’s expected to be a big part of Spurs’ future. But it would make sense why Tottenham are dragging their feet here a little bit, because Romero’s shoes are huge and someone’s got to fill them.
