Tottenham choosing Jan Paul van Hecke over Luka Vuskovic is already aging well

Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi went against a lot of fans and conventional wisdom when he insisted that the club spend more than 50 million pounds on center back Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton, even though he was heading into the final year of his contract. De Zerbi's interest in Van Hecke cost the club Luka Vuskovic, who did not want to play second fiddle to the more experienced pairing of Van Hecke and Micky van de Ven and instead ended up going back the other way for less money to Brighton after an incredible debut season in a top flight league with Hamburg on loan.

Although the prevailing narrative from the media has been that Spurs screwed up the swap and lost out on Vuskovic, that narrative is a disservice to Van Hecke. He has been one of the leading players in the Premier League in terms of progressive passes and passes into the final third, totaling bossing it. And now that he has clicked next to Van de Ven, he is playing fantastic defense, too, and he is miles ahead of what Cristian Romero provided last season.

Van Hecke has more goals, more blocks, more passes completed, a greater pass completion percentage, a far better ratio and total of long passes completed, and more than triple the chances created than Vuskovic. He is a unique weapon not replicated by anyone else in the Premier League.

But there is another even more compelling reason why Spurs made the right choice to switch from Luka Vuskovic to Jan Paul van Hecke. The latter is committed to Tottenham Hotspur and Roberto De Zerbi, whereas Vuskovic merely saw Spurs as a stepping stone - and he surely sees Brighton as the same, seeing as how he only wanted them because of the guaranteed playing time.

And already, not but a few months into the new gig, Vuskovic is already being linked elsewhere. Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sports Germany is reporting that Vuskovic is being regularly monitored by clubs, and Liverpool already have him near the top of their summer transfer shortlist next year. And Plettenberg even adds that Vuskovic's ultimate dream is to join Real Madrid.

Meanwhile, there is not a lick of a transfer rumor around Van Hecke's name. He is 100 percent committed to Tottenham, De Zerbi, and is fully COYS. That's what Tottenham need, and they can already be relieved they cut Vuskovic and his stepping stone dreams loose early.