Luka Vuskovic is the latest piece in Brighton’s defensive revamp, what next? | OneFootball

Brighton’s centre-back reset accelerates after Jan Paul van Hecke joined Tottenham Hotspur for £52 million, examining Fabian Hurzeler’s defence-first creed. According to NY Times, Luka Vuskovic, Pascal Struijk and Michael Svoboda headline the reshuffle, with Conference League fixtures likely to force rotation.

Van Hecke’s exit ends his pairing with Lewis Dunk, used in 52 of 76 league games under Hurzeler and central to back-to-back eighth-place finishes. Brighton conceded 46 league goals in 2025-26, with only Arsenal on 27 and Manchester City on 35 tighter.

Brighton are set to confirm a club-record £46 million deal for 19-year-old Luka Vuskovic, already capped six times by Croatia and involved in the 4-2 loss to England at the World Cup. He hit six in 28 Bundesliga outings on loan at Hamburg last season. He made no official appearance for Tottenham after joining from Hajduk Split in February 2025, and is seven years younger than Van Hecke.

Struijk, 26, is a proven Premier League performer with 119 games and a Leeds contract that ran to 2027. Svoboda, 27, cost £4.3 million via a release clause after captaining Venezia to Italy’s second-tier title. Both bridge a peak-age gap and suit Hurzeler’s demand for intensity and comfort on the ball.

Diego Coppola is set to depart for a profit after a £9.4 million move from Hellas Verona and a loan at Paris FC. Igor Julio and Eiran Cashin are also expected to move on, leaving Dunk, Vuskovic, Struijk, Svoboda and Olivier Boscagli.

Adam Webster was released after missing 2025-26 with a knee injury. A deeper pool could allow occasional back threes, though Hurzeler has mostly stuck with a four, and how it works without Van Hecke will decide whether the goals-against stays low.

Source: NY Times