Luka Vuskovic’s Tottenham debut could not have gone any better. Introduced at half-time in Saturday’s pre-season friendly against Reading, the talented teenager made it a day to remember by scoring the team’s second goal in their 2-0 victory.
Not only that, Vuskovic also had a hand in the first goal as Will Lankshear nodded home from point-blank range. There has been so much talk of the centre-back ever since Tottenham agreed a deal with Hajduk Split two years ago and that will now only go up a few notches after his performance at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
Vuskovic is regarded as one of the brightest talents in the game and Tottenham may have pulled off a masterstroke in luring him to N17 amid links with some of Europe’s biggest clubs. There are currently question marks over whether or not the player will depart on loan this season so that he can continue his first-team development after two rather impressive loan spells with Radomiak Radom and Westerlo.
A few more strong performances over the course of pre-season and it may be a very simple decision for Thomas Frank when it comes to his Vuskovic plans for this campaign. It only took the player four minutes to have an impact on proceedings as he headed fellow debutant Mohammed Kudus’ corner into the path of Lankshear who made no mistake from a matter of yards out.
Four minutes later and he had a goal for himself. After another corner initially didn’t come to anything, Djed Spence headed the ball into the path of Kudus and the Ghanaian held it up before putting it on a plate for Vuskovic to sweep the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. It was some finish and one of an experienced goalscorer.
The 18-year-old is no stranger to scoring goals after regularly doing so for Radomiak Radom and Westerlo. During his time in Poland, Vuskovic scored three time, one of which was a header in a win against Stal Mielec. The Split-born player did in fact go close to scoring a hat-trick of headers that day as he demonstrated his incredible aerial ability.
At Westerlo, Vuskovic netted seven goals during his season on loan, five of which were headers. He’s quite clearly a huge asset when it comes to set-pieces but Tottenham’s secret weapon may perhaps not be so secret anymore after what he produced in the opposition box at Reading on Saturday.
The issue for Tottenham’s opponents when it comes to Vuskovic is just how exactly you go about stopping him as he is so tall and extremely powerful. The player was certainly pleased with how the game went for him as he recorded his first goal and assist for the club in next to no time.
“I’m very happy for those stats and I’m more happy that we won the game with a clean sheet. We just have to continue to build on this,” he told SPURSPLAY. “Kudus gave me a top pass and I just put it in the net. I had a bit of good luck and I’m very happy about it.”
He added: “Everything is perfect. The club is behind me, the players, the staff, the coach, everyone is helping me a lot. I’m very happy now and that’s it.
“I think it was a good game, a lot of duels, a lot of transitions and I think we managed it well. We got a clean sheet and a victory so it’s good.
“I had Vicario and Van de Ven beside me, it was a really amazing experience and I hope it will continue.”
Frank also gave a quick interview to SPURSPLAY after the friendly and he made sure to namecheck Vuskovic. “Luka deserves the praise as well,” revealed the Dane. “A great header. Showed his physicality and his composure on the ball. He’s not getting stressed when opponents get close. And what a strike.”
One game in and Vuskovic has already made quite the name for himself at Tottenham. What follows next in the weeks and months ahead could be very special indeed.
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