Tottenham Hotspur beat Real Madrid in the race to sign Luka Vuckovic from Hajduk Split.
In September 2023, Tottenham reach £12m [€13.9m] The defender agreed a deal with Hajduk Split to arrive in London last summer.
The Premier League side sent him on a season-long loan to Hamburg SV in August 2025. The move has been a good one for the centre-back, who has established himself in the Bundesliga.
He has played 2,280 minutes in 25 matches so far this season and has scored five goals and one assist.
The Tottenham-owned player has been impressing in Hamburg and below are his stats per game in the Bundesliga.
- Interception: 1.2
- Tackle: 0.8
- Ball Recovery: 4.3
- Ground duels won: 2.1
- Aerial duel won: 5.5
Before Hajduk Split agreed with Tottenham, Real Madrid made progress to sign the Croatia international.
Tottenham beats Real Madrid in signings
is according to Hamburger AbendblattWho report why the La Liga side failed to sign him.
The newspaper recently received several pictures of the 19-year-old player's visit to Real Madrid.
His brother, Mario, mother, Sanja and agent Damir Smoljan met his then manager, Carlo Ancelotti, and compatriot Luka Modrić. The latter left the Spanish club for AC Milan last summer.
'Everything' points to an agreement with Real Madrid, who offered Hajduk Split €6m plus €6m in bonuses, and discussed personal terms. However, things changed after Luka Vuckovic's squad returned to Croatia from their trip to Madrid.
Real Madrid's interest was leaked by Tomislav Kasalo, a member of his family and lawyer, in a pub in Split.
At the time, Casalo also did business with Pini Zahavi, who kept him informed about Los Blancos' progress. The pair hatched a plan to stop her move to Spain.
It worked as Zahavi secured Spurs' offer while the lawyer convinced the Vuckovic family. The latter had handled Mario's doping ban case. He charged no fees and helped Zahavi secure Luca as a client.
What's next for Luka Vuckovic?
His rise in Hamburg has attracted the attention of other clubs including Barcelona and Bayern Munich. zahawi recently said A decision on his client's future will be made at the end of the season.
last week, Luca refused to discuss his future and revealed that he has a contract with the North London club until 2030.
transfer market He is now valued at €40m, an increase of €22m from October 2025. It signals his rapid development, and Spurs have to make a decision about his future in the summer.
Real Madrid, for their part, will now regret losing the defender to Tottenham. It is unclear whether the La Liga side will return for the Croatian at any time in the future.
