Tottenham Hotspur have long held a reputation for being a Premier League club that gets the maximum out of the up-and-coming talents at their disposal.
Indeed, Gareth Bale was transformed into a Real Madrid superstar thanks to the magic of the North Londoners, with the likes of Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, and Wilson Odobert all keen to follow in the Welshman’s footsteps in Thomas Frank’s first team picture right now, with the trio in question all 20 years of age and younger.
They have all been afforded for luxury of trying to win first team minutes while Luka Vuskovic attempts to make a name for himself out on loan with Hamburg, with the promising Croat another that could soon bear fruit off the impressive Spurs’ production line.
Why Luka Vuskovic is rated so highly
It’s been a long time in the making for Vuskovic to be the Premier League side’s property, having originally agreed a £12m deal with Hajduk Split for the teenage sensation back in 2023, with the defender then staying put in his native country to develop.
His ex-employers even loaned him out to Belgium for a season-long stint at Westerlo, but despite scoring seven times and picking up three assists on the books of the Pro League side, and already being capped by the senior Croatia national team, Frank and Co opted to send Vuskovic on another European adventure with the Bundesliga outfit this summer.
The Dane will be watching on from the Spurs’ dug-out, very pleased with Vuskovic’s start to life in the Bundesliga, with the Split-born teenager already the recipient of the league’s Rookie of the Month accolade for his assured showings across September.
His league numbers make for some wild reading, with the determined 18-year-old winning a crazy nine duels per Bundesliga game so far this season, having won a whopping 18 aerial duels against Union Berlin at the end of last month.
To apply context to just how remarkable that statistic is, no player has won more aerial duels in a single Bundesliga game across the last ten seasons. Furthermore, he is the first player to win 18 aerial duels in a single match in Europe’s big five leagues over the last five seasons.
It now appears that analyst Ben Mattinson wasn’t being that over-the-top when he claimed Vuskovic was a “freak talent” with a “high ceiling”, with his parent club already looking forward to bedding him into the first team picture when the time is right.
However, despite the brand-new Hamburg number 44 becoming the flavour of the month suddenly, other youngsters back at Spurs are equally as promising as Vuskovic.
Spurs gem is rivalling Vuskovic as their top youngster
While Vuskovic has had to wait for his moment in the senior spotlight, other youngsters of a similar ilk to the raw Croat have been bumped up to the Spurs’ senior fold without much hesitation in recent years.
Last season, in particular, saw Ange Postecoglou use the Europa League as a stage for some of Spurs’ homegrown prodigies to impress, with Dane Scarlett even scoring against Elfsborg in the European competition, despite only being 20.
That same match, Mikey Moore would got in on the goalscoring act, with this first-ever senior goal for the Lilywhites a long time in the making, despite the London-born starlet only being 17 at the time.
Amazingly, long before Vuskovic’s name would start to be uttered, Moore was scoring goals by the bucket load for the Spurs’ U18s, with 19 goals and 13 assists in total in the youth picture, seeing scout Jacek Kulig hail him as “one of the most talented players of his generation in Europe.”
Games played
45
Senior appearances
20
Youth appearances
25
Goals scored
22
Assists
18
A further 20 appearances in the Spurs’ first team fold have come the forward’s way which has resulted in a further two assists being collected. It really is unsurprising that analyst Ben Mattinson claimed he has “superstar potential.”
Still, much like Vuksovic’s fate, Moore was sent out on loan to Rangers this summer, with the new number 47 at Ibrox failing to settle amidst turbulent times at the Glasgow-based club.
Yet, he does at least have one assist next to his name to hang onto from ten appearances, and with a hat-trick just picked up for the England U19s, he will hopefully be able to kick on and get back to his best in the Russell-Martin-less reality awaiting him.
Therefore, while the former Split youngster is certainly raising eyebrows, Moore has shown with that hat-trick that he still has lots about him, too, with the 18-year-old no doubt still prepared to go to the very top, whether that’s with Vuskovic next to him or not in a future Spurs’ starting XI.