England and captain Harry Kane might face a “generational participant” in Croatia centre-back Luka Vuskovic in Wednesday’s World Cup opener in Dallas.
Extremely-rated Vuskovic might begin the Group L fixture after a breakthrough season within the Bundesliga with Hamburg and amid hypothesis over his long-term future at Tottenham.
Vuskovic is but to make a aggressive look for Spurs, however the north London membership spent £12m in 2023 to safe the companies of the teenage defender and he has emerged as one of many hottest prospects in Europe throughout current loans.
A £30m bid by Brighton for the goalscoring centre-back was rejected by Tottenham final weekend, the Press Affiliation understands, but it surely could possibly be the beginning of quite a few advances for the 19-year-old.
Soccer growth coach Harry Brooks has labored with previous and current Tottenham gamers and predicted Vuskovic might at some point be bought for greater than Harry Maguire’s file charge of £80m for a centre-back.
“That could possibly be a centre-back there that could possibly be price £80m plus,” Brooks advised PA.
“You’ve received a participant right here that’s doubtlessly a generational participant. It’s not widespread doing what he’s doing.”
Cut up-born Vuskovic solely formally joined Tottenham final summer time attributable to Brexit guidelines, however arrived in north London contemporary from a profitable mortgage at Westerlo in Belgium and marked his first outing with a aim in a pre-season pleasant at Studying.
It was nonetheless determined a mortgage away was finest and an August change to Hamburg proved a masterstroke.
Vuskovic was named within the Bundesliga Crew of the Season, gained the league’s Objective of the Yr and was named Rookie of the Month on 4 events.
He scored six targets in 30 appearances in Germany, however with no clear pathway at Tottenham, the world’s finest golf equipment have began to circle the Croatian.
It resulted in Friday’s shock bid by Brighton and an eventful summer time is anticipated for Vuskovic, however his most important focus will likely be Wednesday’s opener with England and stopping Kane – the final generational expertise from Spurs.
Brooks, who trains Premier League gamers together with his bespoke soccer growth programme RH10, warned England to be cautious of Vuskovic’s magnet-like qualities from set-pieces.
“I’ve a participant in Bundesliga I labored with that got here up in opposition to him final season and he mentioned that he couldn’t consider how good he was,” Brooks mentioned.
“Performs the sport on his phrases. One of the best gamers can simply determine it out and they aren’t gamers who want to suit into sure programs, they discover options.
“Extremely dominant as a defender, reads the sport rather well, excellent within the air, naturally snug utilizing each toes.
“He simply has that intuition and is a magnet by way of the ball coming to him in each bins and that’s one thing you don’t see too usually.
“That’s like Sergio Ramos or Pepe the place the ball tends to reach at these gamers in areas the place they’ll actually affect the sport defensively and attacking-wise.
“It’s not luck, it’s having that intuition, that aura and affect.”
PA
