Spurs gem, 18, is a ‘superstar’ with more talent than Vuskovic

Tottenham Hotspur have long had a reputation as a Premier League club that makes the most of the emerging talent at their disposal.

Indeed, Gareth Bale has become a Real Madrid superstar thanks to the magic of the North Londoners, with Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert all keen to follow in the Welshman’s footsteps in Thomas Frank’s first team photo right now, with the trio in question aged 20 or under.

They have all had the luxury of trying to earn first-team minutes while Luka Vuskovic attempts to make a name for himself on loan at Hamburg, with the promising Croatian another who could soon bear fruit on Spurs’ impressive production line.

Why Luka Vuskovic is so highly rated

It has been a long time coming for Vuskovic to become Premier League property, having initially agreed a £12million deal with Hajduk Split for the teenage sensation in 2023, with the defender subsequently remaining in his homeland to develop.

His ex-employers even loaned him to Belgium for a season-long stint at Westerlo, but despite having seven goals and three assists on the Pro League’s books, and already being capped by the Croatian senior national team, Frank and Co opted to send Vuskovic on another European adventure with the Bundesliga side this summer.

The Dane will be watching from the Spurs dugout, very pleased with Vuskovic’s start to life in the Bundesliga, with the Split-born teenager having already been awarded the league’s Rookie of the Month for his assured performances throughout September.

His league numbers make for crazy reading, with the determined 18-year-old having won a crazy nine duels per Bundesliga game so far this season, having won 18 aerial duels against Union Berlin late last month.

To put into context the remarkable nature of this statistic, no player has won more aerial duels in a single Bundesliga match in the last ten seasons. He is also the first player to win 18 aerial duels in a single match in the five major European championships over the last five seasons.

It now appears analyst Ben Mattinson wasn’t that far-fetched when he claimed Vuskovic was a “monster talent” with a “high ceiling”, with his parent club already looking forward to integrating him into the first team when the time is right.

However, although Hamburg’s brand new number 44 is suddenly becoming the flavor of the month, other Spurs youngsters are just as promising as Vuskovic.

Spurs gem rivals Vuskovic as best youngster

While Vuskovic has had to wait for his moment in the senior spotlight, other youngsters of the same ilk as the raw Croatian have been thrust into Spurs’ senior group without much hesitation in recent years.

Last season, in particular, Ange Postecoglou used the Europa League as a stage to impress some of Spurs’ local wonderkids, with Dane Scarlett even scoring against Elfsborg in the European competition, when he was just 20 years old.

That same match, Mikey Moore was involved in the scoring act, with this first ever senior goal for the Lilywhites long in the making, although the London-born starlet was only 17 at the time.

Amazingly, long before Vuskovic’s name started being bandied about, Moore was scoring goals in spades for the Spurs U18s, with 19 goals and 13 assists in total at youth level, seeing scout Jacek Kulig hail him as “one of the most talented players of his generation in Europe”.

The striker made a further 20 appearances for Spurs’ first team, which saw him pick up two more assists. It’s really no surprise that analyst Ben Mattinson said he has “superstar potential.”

Yet, much like Vuksovic’s fate, Moore was loaned to Rangers in the summer, with the new Ibrox number 47 failing to settle in amid a period of turmoil at the Glasgow-based club.

Still, he has at least one assist next to his name to keep from ten appearances, and with a hat-trick just clinched for the England U19s, he will hopefully be able to kick on and get back to his best in reality without Russell-Martin waiting for him.

Therefore, while the former Split youngster certainly raises eyebrows, Moore showed with this hat-trick that he still has plenty going for him too, with the 18-year-old undoubtedly still ready to go to the top, whether with Vuskovic alongside him or not in the future Spurs’ starting XI.