Let us take you back to 2007. Gareth Bale has learned his trade at Southampton and is still effectively a boy. He’s only 17. But here he is, signing for Tottenham Hotspur.
A £10m move at the time didn’t exactly blow Spurs fans away but it was a deal that would change the modern landscape of this football club.
It took a while for that to occur, however. Bale didn’t win any of his first 24 games in Spurs colours. He was a jinx, perhaps even a curse.
However, he managed to turn his career around after a rocky start and is now perhaps only second to Harry Kane in terms of modern icons at White Hart Lane.
When Real Madrid came calling in 2013, lodging an £85m bid, Spurs banked a ridiculous amount of profit but said farewell to one of their greats.
Taking into account the Welshman’s second stint in north London – a loan spell – he featured across 237 games, bagging 71 goals and posting 53 assists.
So, where’s the next Bale coming from? Well, the Lilywhites have a number of top young stars, notably Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Mikey Moore.
Moore is perhaps one of the most exciting.
Mikey Moore's debut campaign in the Spurs first-team
Last summer marked Moore’s emergence in the Spurs first-team. Ange Postecoglou loves him and couldn’t wait to unleash the teenager in the senior game.
He did so for the first time against Manchester City, bringing the 17-year-old from the bench in the last two games of the Premier League campaign.
Moore played a more prominent role during the club’s pre-season preparations, dazzling defenders by scoring against both Hearts and Vissel Kobe while also posting an assist against QPR. It was some start to life as a first-team player.
While the teenager has not been a regular contributor in terms of goals and assists since, failing to find the net in the Premier League but scoring twice in all competitions, he’s still looked incredibly promising.
Injury and illness have stunted Moore’s development across the new year but he’s left not just a lasting impression on fans but also his teammates.
Speaking after their 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar in November, James Maddison remarked: “From minute 45 to 65 I thought we had Neymar on the left wing. He was brilliant. Just demanding the ball and fearless.”
Still only 17 years of age, the future is certainly bright for the England youth international, named among GOAL.com’s top 50 wonderkids around the globe.
GOAL.com's 10 best wonderkids in world football.
Still, one of the players on that list could be an even bigger talent.
Spurs have a bigger talent than Mikey Moore
Featuring on GOAL’s list were five Spurs players, chief among them Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall. Those two are certainly further ahead in their development so it makes sense for them to be included higher up.
However, we want to talk about Luka Vuskovic, the young defender who’s yet to be seen in Spurs colours.
Yang Min-hyeok
#43
Luka Vuskovic
#26
Mikey Moore
#22
Lucas Bergvall
#17
Archie Gray
#13
It was back in September 2023 that Spurs first announced they had agreed a deal to bring a then 16-year-old Vuskovic to the club from Croatian side Hajduk Split.
He won’t officially transfer clubs until the summer of 2025 so we are still waiting for his Spurs debut, but now aged 18, he’s showcasing the immense potential many expect from him.
A centre-back by trade, the teenager is on loan at KVC Westerlo in Belgium’s first tier where he’s not just demonstrated himself to be a capable defender but he also has a habit of finding the back of the net, scoring seven times in 28 appearances.
So, why is there such hype? Well, standing at 6 foot 5, he’s been described as a “freak athlete” by data analyst Ben Mattinson and an “insane talent” by scout Jacek Kulig.
He’s got the imposing frame to terrify defenders, the goalscoring ability to impact things at the opposite end of the pitch and he’s dominating even when he’s not finding the net.
Indeed, according to Sofascore, he’s achieved the highest match rating in a single game among defenders in Europe’s ‘top ten leagues’ in a game where they didn’t find the net or assist a goal.
That was during a 0-0 draw with OH Leuven where the young centre-back completed 91% of his passes, won ten of his 12 aerial duels, completed a key pass and successfully made all seven of his long balls.
This is an elite talent in the making, a comfortable passer, a menacing header of the ball and a goalscorer. What more could you want?
Those in his homeland are already getting excited and who can blame them? Croatian media have been quick to celebrate his performances, crowning Vuskovic as “a talent who is born once in 100 years”.
Perhaps, like Bale, he is blessed with the potential to play for a club like Madrid. Spurs will hope they get a few years of service out of him before anything like that happens.
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