Vuskovic: Will the World Cup be a flop? | OneFootball

Croatia reached the knockout stage of the World Cup on Saturday. Once again, Luka Vuskovic was left watching from the sidelines.

As against Panama (1:0), he also had to settle for a place on the bench against Ghana. His teammates once again failed to impress, but still battled their way to a 2:1 win that secured second place behind England. Nikola Vlasic scored the winner with a header in the 83rd minute. Coach Zlatko Dalic once again opted for a back four, in which he has so far found no role for Vuskovic.

He also went without his services in the closing stages, when the task was to see out the narrow lead. Despite still having a substitution available, Vuskovic — who brings plenty of quality in deep defending but was only visible in the celebrations around the 2:1 — was not called upon again. He will in all likelihood have to start by watching the round-of-32 clash against Portugal from the outside once more.

Photo: IMAGO

Vuskovic: No room left at his preferred club?

Even away from the World Cup, the situation of the 19-year-old — whose loan spell at Hamburger SV officially ends on Tuesday — remains complicated. A move to Brighton & Hove Albion is up in the air, as an agreement with Tottenham is still a long way off. Over the weekend, the Seagulls responded by signing another center-back, Pascal Struijk from league rivals Leeds, for a fee of just 20 million euros.

In addition, Michael Svoboda — who had also been on HSV’s shortlist — arrived. As a result, there is no longer any urgent need for Brighton to act, even though the club had already reached a verbal agreement with the Vuskovic camp. Probably for that reason as well, no other interested parties are currently known. That means the highly gifted defender would have to return to Tottenham Hotspur after his summer vacation.

Nur die Raute – by HSV fans for HSV fans

To what extent coach Roberto De Zerbi has plans for him is unknown. What is certain, however, is that Vuskovic is currently focusing entirely on the World Cup and is hoping for more playing time than the 66 mixed minutes from the opening match against England.

Photo: IMAGO

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.