Uhhhhh this was not the bomba I was expecting today. According to Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham Hotspur has reached an agreement with Brighton & Hove Albion for the sale of Croatian central defender Luka Vuskovic for more than £46m.
OK, so this is basically my feelings on this matter:
If you saw Fabrizio Romano’s ambiguous and weird tweet on this matter, hopefully this is a little more clear. £46m+£4m, with a 20% sell-on clause AND matching rights is… honestly a defensible move. When the links with Brighton first came available I was steadfastly against this, but now my feelings are a bit more nuanced. We did get a decent look at Vuskovic for Croatia in the World Cup, and while he looked somewhat cromulent, it did result in some big questions about his speed and movement, and how effective that will be in the Premier League. Those concerns are real and not something to ignore — he’s obviously an extremely talented defender, but not every extremely talented defender is going to be a good fit for the speed of the Premier League.
On the one hand — I do not like this idea of selling exceptional talent early, especially what could be a generational defensive talent, before he even has the opportunity to play a single match for our club. I do think Vuskovic could end up being a very good defender for someone, even if it’s not us.
On the flip side — it’s clear that the club and Roberto De Zerbi have higher priorities than giving match minutes to a 19 year old kid, no matter how much he crushed it on a bottom half Bundesliga team on loan last season. Vuskovic has also made it clear he wants to be at a club that will play him, and right now he’s probably 5th/6th on the pecking order for the foreseeable future. It’s also clear he doesn’t want another loan. Brighton are in a position to offer Vuskovic regular starting minutes in the Premier League, and we’ll find out pretty soon if he sinks or swims.
Tottenham purchased Vuskovic as a 16 year old kid from Croatia for £12m in 2023. If Ornstein’s reporting is correct, we’re getting about a 450% return on our investment, PLUS a sell-on fee AND matching rights, which would allow us to match any future offer for Vuskovic, and that matching offer would supersede anything else. That’s a pretty remarkable transfer.
You can say what you want about Tottenham’s decision-making vs. Brighton’s. Brighton have a track record of recruiting talented young players and actually developing them into studs. I have my issues with Tottenham’s decision-making right now, obviously. However, I don’t think this is necessarily a stupid move, especially if Spurs internally have concerns about Vuskovic’s fit.
Financially, this is a pretty great deal. We’re going to have to wait a while to find out whether it’s a good move on the footballing side.
