Tottenham's Vuskovic emerges as Croatia's £80m-rated wildcard for England's World Cup opener

Luka Vuskovic, the teenage Croatia centre-back owned by Tottenham, could line up against England and Harry Kane in Wednesday’s World Cup Group L opener in Dallas — and football development coach Harry Brooks believes the 19-year-old has the makings of an £80m-plus defender.

Vuskovic is yet to make a competitive appearance for Spurs since the club paid £12m for him in 2023, spending his development years on loan. His most recent stint, at Hamburg in the Bundesliga, proved a breakthrough campaign: he was named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season, won the league’s Goal of the Year award, and was named Rookie of the Month on four occasions, scoring six goals in 30 appearances.

That form has drawn serious transfer interest. Tottenham rejected a £30m bid from Brighton last weekend, according to the Press Association, but the approach is widely expected to be the first of several this summer.

Brooks, who runs the football development programme RH10 and has worked with past and present Tottenham players, drew comparisons with some of the game’s most decorated defenders. “You’ve got a player here that is potentially a generational player,” he told PA. “It’s not common doing what he is doing.”

He added: “Incredibly dominant as a defender, reads the game really well, outstanding in the air, naturally comfortable using both feet. He just has that instinct and is a magnet in terms of the ball coming to him in both boxes — that is like Sergio Ramos or Pepe.”

Brooks also warned England to be alert to Vuskovic’s threat from set-pieces, noting that a Bundesliga player he works with who faced the Croatian last season “couldn’t believe how good he was.”

Vuskovic was born in Split and only officially joined Tottenham last summer due to Brexit regulations, having previously spent a loan spell at Westerlo in Belgium. He marked his first appearance in Spurs colours with a goal in a pre-season friendly against Reading, but the club opted to send him out on loan again rather than integrate him into the first-team squad.

With no clear pathway into Ange Postecoglou’s side yet established, Wednesday’s clash with England in Dallas represents both a personal showcase and a significant test — stopping Kane, whom Brooks pointedly described as “the last generational talent from Spurs.”