Best value cracked after 13 years
©IMAGO
No Hamburger SV player has ever been valued higher than Luka Vuskovic since market values were introduced at Transfermarkt in 2004. As part of the Bundesliga update, the defense boss climbed from 18 million to 40 million euros, replacing Rafael van der Vaart, who had previously held this record for over ten years.
When van der Vaart returned from Tottenham Hotspur to the Rothosen in the summer of 2012, the Dutchman was once worth 24.5 million euros, and Vuskovic now far exceeds this estimate. Spurs also play a role in the 18-year-old central defender. The North Londoners had already secured the Croatian’s services in 2023, in anticipation of last summer. 11 million euros went to Hajduk Split.
Because the competition from the Premier League club was still too great, a suitable loan club was sought. The fact that HSV prevailed against applicants who were more likely to be assessed was mainly due to the fact that Vuskovic really wanted to go to Hamburg. The defensive talent had previously seen how the club supported his brother Mario Vuskovic, who was banned for doping. After his move, the youngster also took over his brother’s number 44 shirt.
When he moved, he was already the new most valuable professional in the newcomer’s squad with 12 million euros – before Fábio Vieira arrived – and now he is a clear 22 million euros ahead of the next most valuable teammate. He is now one of the top 20 most highly valued professionals in the Bundesliga – on a par with Cologne’s Said El Mala and FC Bayern’s Tom Bischof, among others. If you look at the most valuable Croatians in market value history, only six had a higher valuation.
Director of professional football Claus Costa exclusively told Transfermarkt about the youngster’s development: “Despite his young age, Luka is a complete professional and works very meticulously on details. He knows exactly what he needs for his body and his game. Luka has a very high willingness to learn, you can tell that he wants to improve every day. You can see his sporting qualities on the pitch. He finds a good mix of the necessary calm and the necessary aggressiveness. Against the ball, he impresses with his header game and his robustness “He is very careful with the ball and has a high quality of passing. In addition, he is extremely important for us in both defensive and offensive set pieces.”
Since his arrival, Vuskovic has only missed the Hamburg city derby because his transfer had only taken place a few hours earlier. Since then he has been on the pitch every minute, is HSV’s second most-used field player with 1,290 minutes and scored two goals. This included the goal to make it 2-1 in the northern derby against Werder Bremen (3-2), which he scored with a heel and was extremely impressive.
The Vuskovic deal is a stroke of luck for HSV, but there is no chance of him staying beyond the summer. A purchase option is not integrated into the loan and Tottenham are unlikely to want to loan the defender out again given this development. With his latest market value, he would already be the sixth most valuable professional in the Spurs squad. His contract there runs until 2030.