“Not my biggest dream”: Former Hamburg player Luka Vuskovic surprises with statement about the Premier League after record transfer
That Vuskovic is no ordinary teenager was already clear over the course of a season in the Bundesliga, when, at just 18, he held things together for HSV.
The Croat is now 19, armed with the experience of a World Cup finals and carrying the weight of being a record signing and the great hope of a Premier League club. The defender explained in recent days how he plans to handle that in typical Vuskovic fashion: unusually composed, mature and reflective for a teenager.
When he was asked about his upcoming Premier League debut, he immediately served up a headline. "I'm looking forward to it," Vuskovic said last Saturday in a small media round that included The Athletic, "but it wasn't my biggest dream. The league is of course the best in the world and I'm really looking forward to my first game there."
He was "really happy" and "in a certain way also proud", Vuskovic added, but his biggest dream? "I didn't think about it like that ... Spain perhaps, because life there is most comparable to Croatia."
Luka Vuskovic: "The best step for me"
No one should mistake Vuskovic's matter-of-fact approach to the next stage of his development for arrogance or a lack of humility. It underlines instead how professionally and carefully the 19-year-old handles himself, not only on the pitch but also in front of a microphone and in shaping his public image.
His spectacular move from Tottenham to Brighton & Hove Albion for the club-record fee of 54 million euros brings a level of responsibility he looks fully ready for.
"I think it's the best step for me at this point in my career," Vuskovic said in that same round on Saturday after the Seagulls' 3-0 win in a friendly against Roma at their home stadium. Brighton & Hove are "one of the biggest talent factories in the world, as we have seen in recent years and will also see in future. I consider the club a top club; they presented me with a top project, and it was very simple."
New situation: tough competition for Luka Vuskovic
Vuskovic has thought about his price tag of £46 million too, and settled on his own way of dealing with it. The fee "doesn't play a big role because it's just a number. I have to prove myself, give my best and I will try to do that."
At Brighton, he faces plenty of competition with huge Premier League experience, including 34-year-old Lewis Dunk (299 appearances) and the Belgian Pascal Struijk. Dunk has been at Brighton for what feels like an eternity and remains a key figure in the club's rise, with the club finishing in the top 10 of the best league in the world four times in the past five years and narrowly missing out once by ending up 11th. Struijk, like Vuskovic, is a new signing. The 26-year-old arrived from Leeds United, already battle-hardened in English football.
"Whoever is best, in the matches or in training, will start," said Vuskovic. It is "great" to have high-class competition. "We have a lot of great players in my position, the best will play, it's as simple as that."
Fabian Hürzeler wants to give Vuskovic time
For the young Croatia international, this is a new situation. At Hamburger SV, whom he joined on loan in the summer of 2025, he went straight in as an automatic starter. His footballing quality, and also his physical presence at 1.93 metres tall, put him above all the alternatives at the then newly promoted Bundesliga club. Now it is different. In the Seagulls defence, he is one equal among equals, albeit with attributes that are scarcely comparable for someone of his age.
He is "still a young player who first has to get used to the demands of the game here at Brighton and in the Premier League", manager Fabian Hürzeler explained about his new signing. The demands and expectations are rising for Brighton too after two eighth-place finishes. Their league season begins with a duel against Europa League winners Aston Villa. That first major highlight of the season comes between the two decisive matches for qualification for the UEFA Conference League.
Under Hürzeler, Vuskovic has found his start with the Seagulls very pleasant. The club switch had been very easy for him, "because my team-mates, the coaching staff and the whole club have supported me since my arrival."
Even Brighton, where he signed a five-year contract with the option of a further season, looks likely to be only a stop on his journey if his development so far is any guide. Whether the "big dream" of Spain comes true then remains to be seen.
