Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi badly wanted the club to sign Jan Paul van Hecke in the summer transfer window, but the move for the Croatian international came at the cost of losing Luka Vuskovic. Brighton demanded Vuskovic in order to sell Van Hecke, and whlie the deal was not officially a swap, it was something like a swap, with the former Hamburg star demanding a move to Brighton himself in order to get more playing time so that he can work his way to a dream move to Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, or, especially, Barcelona.
Vuskovic is already off to an amazing start in the Premier League at Brighton, and while he isn't quite picking up where he left off from last season in which he was one of the very best players in the Bundesliga, Vuskovic has been strong.
But Tottenham don't regret the signing of Van Hecke, as he has been arguably the best center back in the Premier League on the ball and has been great overall despite a couple of uneven performances.
Tottenham could have kept Luka Vuskovic
The issue is that Tottenham Hotspur fans were sold that Luka Vuskovic was the one who wanted to leave and that Roberto De Zerbi chose Jan Paul van Hecke over him. But now, the story Vuskovic is telling to the media sounds a bit different.
Vuskovic said, via The Spurs Watch, “I wouldn’t go back to that too much. I appreciate that Tottenham recognised me as a very young player, that they invested in me at the time and that together we found good solutions and clubs where I could play and develop. Coaches, directors, boards and sporting policies change at clubs, and it’s not for me to comment on their decisions.”
It's that last part that stands out here. Vuskovic is basically saying that Tottenham were planning all along to bring him back to the first team and make him a key player in 2026/27 after an incredible season at Hamburg in which he was a top five player in the Bundesliga behind only Yan Diomande, Harry Kane, Luis Diaz, and Michael Olise despite it only being his first senior season.
But something changed within the Tottenham hierarchy that led to Vuskovic being sold without Roberto De Zerbi or the club trying to push for him to stay. And that "no comment" has to be De Zerbi, because he is the only major factor that changed. And now Spurs fans have to reconsider whether or not they believe in De Zerbi or if he is just another guy who picks his guys, discards people on a whim, and has a stubborness that is stronger than any footballing sense. Because Spurs could have kept Vuskovic and signed Van Hecke if they really wanted to, and the sale of Vuskovic is already looking like a terrible idea.
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