Tottenham: 'Suckers' Liverpool lose out as 18y

Tottenham Hotspur have been told promising young defender Luka Vuskovic is ahead of new Liverpool signing Jeremy Jacquet, though there is already a risk he could leave north London.

Liverpool beat Chelsea to sign Jacquet from Rennes on deadline day, striking a deal worth £55million plus £5m in add-ons. But Rennes were adamant the centre-back would see out the campaign with them, meaning Jacquet will not arrive at Anfield until the summer.

The Frenchman looks set for a bright future at the top of the game, but it is still a risky move for Liverpool to have made. After all, Jacquet is only 20 years old and has made just 32 senior appearances for Rennes so far.

A World Cup winner has branded Liverpool ‘suckers’ for paying so much for Jacquet. Plus, the youngster was criticised by the French media after being given a tough time by Mason Greenwood during Rennes’ 3-0 defeat to Marseille on Tuesday.

There has been speculation both Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero could leave Tottenham amid their struggles, but the club does already have an elite young option on its books in Vuskovic.

The 18-year-old has established himself as a key player for loan club Hamburg, while he has also proven to be a surprise goal threat, having found the back of the net four times.

During an appearance on talkSPORT, European football expert Andy Brassell said: “Vuskovic looks better than Jacquet, I think it’s fair to say. Everything about him is so incredibly convincing.

“Tottenham have got an option, I suppose, of course, there will be people who say, ‘Well, they’ve already got [Pedro] Porro and [Destiny] Udogie, so they can bring Vuskovic back and play Vuskovic, Romero, Van der Ven.’

“A lot of this depends on where Tottenham are at the end of the season, whether Thomas Frank is still there, and whether they’ve managed to qualify for Europe again.

“There are so many question marks over where Tottenham are sports-wise at the moment, but they do have options with Vuskovic.

“Obviously, every Spurs fan who’s been watching him from a distance thinks, ‘We want that guy on our team,’ not just because he’s very accomplished already, but because of that leadership, I think.

“And it’s something that it feels that Tottenham are lacking at times.

“I guess the options are, A, integrate him into a three, B, sell Romero while you can still get elite value for him.”

TEAMtalk’s Dean Jones confirmed on Wednesday that Spurs are planning new talks with Vuskovic to determine his pathway into their first team. Thomas Frank’s side want to stop the Croatia U21 starlet from joining Bayern Munich.

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Could Spurs sell Luka Vuskovic to Bayern?

Brassell continued: “The other question is, do you sell on Vuskovic? Do you use him for the money?

“Obviously, he could become a really important player for Tottenham. But at the moment, he’s 18, and he’s never played in the Premier League.

“His value, especially in the Bundesliga, is high, so Bayern have been linked to him.

“Borussia Dortmund have been linked to him; they might be doing a bit of a defensive re-rub in the summer.

“The fact that Niklas Sule is going, Nico Schlotterbeck might [be off], we’re going to find out in the weeks to come whether he’s going to sign a new contract or whether he’s going to move on.

“So, Vuskovic has got an enormous amount of interest; they [Spurs] could make a huge, huge profit on a player that’s never played for them really, maybe that is the path of least resistance.

“I tend to think it would be far more sensible for them to either bring him back and integrate him into a three, or for him to replace one of the two existing centre-backs as a starter.

“Probably Romero, because you can get a lot of money for him and the issues that we’ve discussed.”

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Meanwhile, we can reveal Mauricio Pochettino has said yes to a spectacular return to Spurs.

Elsewhere, Dominik Szoboszlai has reportedly told Liverpool to double his wages amid contract talks.

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