Tottenham Risk Handing Brighton a £90m Profit by Selling Luka Vuskovic Cheap
Brighton's £45m bid for the Croatian teenager could become one of the great Premier League selling blunders if Spurs cash in on a player they have yet to use.
Tottenham have received a third bid worth around £45million from Brighton for Luka Vuskovic, the 19-year-old Croatian centre-back who has told the club he wants to leave this summer.
The danger for Spurs is not the fee. It is the buyer. talkSPORT's European football expert Andy Brassell has warned that selling Vuskovic into Brighton's recruitment machine could mean watching him resold for double or treble the price within 18 months.
Why Vuskovic wants out of Tottenham
Vuskovic spent last season on loan at Hamburg and emerged with a reputation that outgrew his age. He made his Croatia debut at the World Cup, coming up directly against Harry Kane, and impressed despite the inexperience around him.
The path to the first team has been blocked
The teenager is unhappy at the prospect of another loan, or a lack of gametime should he stay. Tottenham's summer signings have crowded the position before he has had a chance to claim it.
The arrivals of Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke have pushed Vuskovic further down the pecking order. The irony is sharp: Van Hecke, who joined Spurs as part of their defensive rebuild, is himself a product of the very Brighton profit model that now threatens to expose Tottenham.
A leader who demands more of himself
Brassell has been unequivocal about Vuskovic's ceiling, pointing to how Hamburg's senior players deferred to a teenager from his first day at the club.
"He's a quick learner, still only 19 years old, but you can tick off all the things that he does really. He's very physical, he's decent on the ball. The main thing about Vuskovic, and this is why if I was Tottenham I would really want to keep him, is he's a leader and you saw that at Hamburg. The other players from minute one looked to him."
Brassell singled out the player's mentality after Hamburg's 5-0 defeat to Bayern Munich, where Vuskovic again faced Kane. While teammates accepted the loss, the 19-year-old held himself accountable.
The £45m offer and Brassell's warning
Brighton have now lodged three bids for Vuskovic, escalating to a figure believed to be in the region of £45million. For a player who has never featured for Tottenham's first team, that is a substantial offer in a market starved of elite centre-backs.
The biting point for a club that should hold firm
Brassell, who said last month that Spurs should build their defence around Vuskovic, acknowledged the dilemma facing the club.
"I'd be loath to lose him if I was Tottenham, but again I think there's probably a biting point. £45million for somebody who's never played for the first team is pretty tempting, but then again you know how Brighton develop players."
His central warning is about who profits from any sale, not whether the fee is fair today.
"You think if you sell into Brighton for 45, what are they gonna sell him for in a year and a half? You "
The market context that complicates the call
Brassell stressed that genuine top-level central defenders are increasingly hard to source.
- Vuskovic is 19, physical, and comfortable in possession.
- He adds goals, having scored regularly during his Hamburg loan.
- He has already proven himself a leader at senior club and international level.
That combination of age, profile and personality is exactly what clubs pay premiums to secure. Selling now means selling at the bottom of a curve that has barely begun to rise.
Brighton's profit machine: the cautionary tale Spurs should fear
The reason Brassell's warning carries weight is that Brighton have done this repeatedly. The Seagulls have built one of the most efficient buy-low, sell-high operations in European football.
The numbers that should worry Tottenham
The case studies are well documented and the returns are extraordinary.
- Jan Paul van Hecke: signed for just £1.8m, sold for nearly 30 times that figure.
- Moises Caicedo: cost £4m, sold to Chelsea for a then Premier League record £115m in 2023.
- Marc Cucurella and Joao Pedro: sold for a combined £123m, having cost a total of just £45.4m.
Brighton spent £45.4m to sign Cucurella and Joao Pedro and recouped £123m. That single comparison illustrates the multiplier Tottenham would be handing them with Vuskovic.
Why £90m is a warning, not a fantasy
The figure of £90m-plus is speculative, but it is grounded in precedent rather than guesswork. If Brighton develop Vuskovic the way they developed Caicedo, doubling a £45m investment is the conservative outcome, not the optimistic one.
That is the precise scenario Spurs must weigh. Cashing in on a player who has yet to debut is defensible accounting. Funding a direct rival's biggest sale of the decade is not.
What happens next
Tottenham have so far resisted Brighton's advances, having rejected the earlier bids. The £45m offer now forces a clearer decision: accept a strong fee for an unproven asset, or commit to a development plan that gives Vuskovic the gametime he is demanding.
Much will hinge on whether Spurs can convince the player that a route to the first team exists behind Senesi and Van Hecke. If they cannot, his desire to leave may make the sale unavoidable regardless of valuation.
For now, the ball sits with Tottenham. The longer they hesitate, the more Brighton's track record turns from a footnote into a forecast.
SportSignals is an independent publication. Views expressed are our own.
Sources
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much has Brighton bid for Luka Vuskovic?
Brighton have submitted three bids for Vuskovic, with the latest offer believed to be in the region of £45million. It is a substantial fee for a player who has never appeared for Tottenham's first team.
Why does Luka Vuskovic want to leave Tottenham?
Vuskovic wants to leave Tottenham due to concerns over first-team gametime. The summer arrivals of Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke have pushed him further down the centre-back pecking order, and he is unwilling to go out on loan again.
What is Luka Vuskovic's estimated transfer value?
talkSPORT's Andy Brassell has suggested Vuskovic could be worth £90million within 18 months if Brighton sign and develop him through their proven resale model. Brighton's current bid stands at approximately £45million.
Who is Luka Vuskovic and what has he achieved?
Luka Vuskovic is a 19-year-old Croatian centre-back on Tottenham's books. He spent last season on loan at Hamburg and made his Croatia senior debut at the World Cup, where he faced Harry Kane directly.
