Tottenham Hotspur brought in a blockbuster signing at center back for Roberto De Zerbi, who badly wanted to reunite with Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton. Despite only having one year left on his contract, Spurs decided to back their relegation saving manager to the fullest, signing the 26 year old for 60 million euros.
The celebrations ended up being a bit mix, muddied by the transfer request from Luka Vuskovic, who was almost flattered by the reciprocal interest from Brighton. They wanted to sign Vuskovic along with the sale of Van Hecke, first lowballing Spurs with a 30 million pound offer. Spurs rejected, and Brighton tried to offer 45 million pounds, which was also rejected by a Tottenham side looking for 60 million pounds.
Vuskovic feels his Bundesliga Team of the Season campaign with Hamburg in his very first year as a senior player merits a starting job, and if it is not at Tottenham, then he wants to leave permanently. Spurs have not heard from him recently, and, now, it seems as though maybe Brighton are getting cold feet on starting Vuskovic immediately, too, after watching his World Cup in which Croatia decided to leave him on the bench in a back four.
Brighton have already signed a center back
According to a report from Beren Cross of The Athletic, Brighton have actually signed another center back before submitted a renewed offer for Luka Vuskovic. They have purchased one of Leeds United's stars, Pascal Struijk, a 26 year old Belgian who had a fantastic 2025/26 season for the Peacocks. At 20 million pounds and with one year left on his deal, Brighton is basically their version of Tottenham's signing of Jan Paul van Hecke for about a third of the price.
Tottenham Hotspur will have to see how this impacts Vuskovic, but if Brighton are already bringing in Struijk, who was a Premier League proven starter last season in helping Leeds survive relegation, then they may not be so interested in spending more than 45 million pounds on Vuskovic if they were already rejected twice.
Vuskovic is still someone Tottenham would like to keep. They will not hold him against his will if he is really that adamant on leaving, but it sounds more like his agents are trying to get a commission out of a transfer because just a month or so ago, he was still wanting to stay on loan at Hamburg to play with his brother. And thanks to this signing from Brighton, Spurs may have more ammo to convince Vuskovic to change his mind.
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