The only one, Liverpool now lining up the perfect transfer from Spurs

Liverpool’s new football leadership is wasting no time sketching the outline of the post-Klopp era, and the next brushstroke could come from an unlikely place: the Tottenham Hotspur squad teetering on the edge of the relegation trapdoor. While Spurs’ season unravels, Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards have identified one defender who fits the club’s long-term blueprint better than any other—Croatian centre-back Luka Vuskovic.

Anfield sources stress that the 17-year-old is the solitary Spurs asset worth pursuing should the north-London club drop into the Championship. Vuskovic, who first caught continental attention at 16 when he started Hajduk Split’s Eternal Derby, has since refined his craft on loan in the Belgian and German top flights. Last term he scored seven times in the Jupiler Pro League; this campaign he has four Bundesliga goals, an eye-catching return for a player deployed primarily to stop, not score.

The numbers underline the appeal. Vuskovic wins 75 per cent of defensive duels, 65 per cent of aerial contests and averages 6.02 interceptions per 90 minutes—figures that place him inside the top five centre-backs across Europe’s leagues for each category. Capable of operating on either side of a back three or four, and even at full-back, he offers the positional versatility Hughes craves as Liverpool reshape a defence currently reliant on an ageing Virgil van Dijk and the injury-prone Joe Gomez.

Liverpool first explored a deal in 2023 and have kept detailed scouting files ever since. Talks have yet to advance to a formal bid, but club insiders say relegation would trigger a release structure that makes a move financially attractive. Spurs value the teenager as a future first-team regular; Liverpool view him as a future leader of their back line.

The pursuit of Vuskovic dovetails with a broader recruitment philosophy that prioritises elite youth over short-term patches. Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez have already arrived to form the nucleus of a squad designed to peak in five to ten years, while defensive prospects Giovanni Leoni, Jeremy Jacquet, Ifeanyi Ndukwe and Mor Talla Ndiaye deepen the academy pipeline. Yet senior-level reinforcements remain essential, and Vuskovic’s combination of aerial dominance, vertical passing and composure on the ball marks him as the archetype Edwards wants.

If Tottenham fall through the trapdoor, expect Liverpool to accelerate negotiations. In the eyes of Anfield’s revamped hierarchy, there is only one Spurs player worth the outlay—and his name is Luka Vuskovic.