Newcastle United is keeping tabs on Hajduk Split’s 6’5″ defender Luka Vuskovic who, despite being just 16 has broken into the first team at the Croatian side.
The Daily Mail credits Newcastle among four Premier League clubs who’ve sent spotters over to Croatia to cast an eye on the youngster. Liverpool and Chelsea sent a delegation over to watch him while Manchester City has reportedly already made contact over a move.
Manchester City have already made their move for Vuskovic
Newcastle’s interest in Vuskovic came to light a few weeks ago and it now seems that the club is stepping up its efforts following Man City’s £ 10.5 million approach.
The youngster has been likened to defensive royalty Gerard Pique but there are apparently concerns about his mobility with him being too tall. However, a good player will adapt – it’s worked out okay for Dan Burn.
As well as breaking into the Split first team he’s also helped their Under 19s despatch AC Milan in the UEFA Youth League semi-final but unfortunately he wasn’t able to stop his team from being hammered 5-0 by AZ Alkmaar in the final last night.
It’s thought that Manchester City’s bid was still short of Hajduk Split’s valuation of Vuskovic with it being understood that a bid of over £ 12 million is likely what will tempt the Croatian club to sell.
Newcastle needs to see some serious competition for his signature
The competition for his signature is fierce with England’s top clubs set to battle it out. Newcastle has already lost out to Chelsea this season when it came to fighting over a hot prospect when Dujuan Richards opted to move to the London club after a successful trial at Newcastle.
Hopefully, the Magpies will have learned some lessons from that ordeal and will be better prepared to see off the competition in the future.
It’s hard to assess how good a 16-year-old in the Croatian league truly is but there must be something good about this kid given the company we’re in with our interest and that’s all I need to know. He’ll obviously not be brought in to go straight into the first team, so our youth coaches will have plenty of time to work with him before Eddie Howe gets his sculptors on him.
He sounds like a brilliant hot prospect and that immense height is an added bonus. Let’s go get him.
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