Chelsea join Manchester City and other PL teams in race to sign Croatian teenager

Chelsea are reportedly interested in signing Luka Vuskovic from Hajduk Split

Chelsea continue to invest in young players under Todd Boehly as they join the other four Premier League teams in the hunt to recruit Luka Vuskovic.

Chelsea have been one of four Premier League clubs to send analysts to see the centre-back lately, (h/t Express) as reported by the Daily Mirror. Also showing interest in the 16-year-old are Newcastle, Liverpool, and Manchester City.

That’s always a worry because these are big teams with the potential of luring in top young talents as well. If we really want Vuskovic, then there is absolutely no time to waste if our PL rivals are also getting a sniff of him.

The Blues have spent quite a bit of money on young players under Boehly’s new ownership, including Noni Madueke, Enzo Fernandez, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Andrey Santos. The signing of Mykhaylo Mudryk and David Datro Fofana Starlet Diego Moreira was another teenager that they signed for nothing recently.

Luka Vuskovic, who is he?

The 6’4″ defender was promoted to Split’s first squad at the age of 16, and he also assisted Split in beating AZ Alkmaar in the UEFA Youth League final.

Many elite teams have kept an eye on the teenager because of his swift ascent, and Chelsea believes he has the potential to be the team’s top centre-back. Many Premier League scouts were present to witness the young player during the semi-final victory against AC Milan.

Top Premier League clubs are interested in signing Luka Vuskovic because the 16-year-old is developing into a highly regarded centre-back and has done well for his club, Hajduk Split. He also played in the U17 UEFA youth league, where he made six appearances and netted two goals.

He will be another talented young player added to our academy if we are successful in getting him. However, we already have enough talented young players this year, so even if we are unsuccessful in signing him, it won’t be an issue for us.

He has years to establish himself as among the top centre-backs and we can take a look at him again in the future. That being said, bringing him in and making him go through our youth teams shouldn’t be an issue. It remains to be seen if he will be able to play for us before he is 18.

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• Julian Nagelsmann leading Luis Enrique in race to become Chelsea manager
• Chelsea agree to send Anthony Barry to Bayern Munich to work with Thomas Tuchel

Post-Brexit rules place a restriction on signing U18 players from abroad for English teams. Moreover, we can only loan out eight players a season – seven from the next one- (our neighbours Tottenham Hotspur found out the hard way with Matt Doherty in January), so we have to pick and choose who we would want to bring in and loan out.