Most of the tattoos on the left arm of Luka Vuskovic relate to family members and special dates in his young life, but they also include a drawing of Hajduk Split’s Poljud Stadium.

“This is the first stadium I played in and it’s my favourite stadium,” explains the teenage Croatian international central defender of his first club’s 47-year-old home. “It’s collapsing a bit now. It needs a bit of rebuilding, but it’s really nice.”

Vuskovic, at just 19 years of age and over 6ft 3in (191cm) tall, is the imposing pillar of a summer rebuilding project by Brighton & Hove Albion in the centre of defence.

Jan Paul van Hecke left for Tottenham in June in a £52million ($70.3m) move. Vuskovic moved in the opposite direction in July — without kicking a ball for Spurs in a competitive fixture — breaking Brighton’s club transfer record with his £46m switch.

“(The fee) doesn’t matter so much, because it’s just a number. I have to prove myself and I have to do my best and I will try to do it,” says Vuskovic, speaking to a small group of media outlets including The Athletic after his debut in Saturday’s 3-0 friendly win against Roma at the Amex.

Luka Vuskovic was hugely popular at Hamburg (Selim Sudheimer/Getty Images)

Tougher tests lie ahead for Vuskovic than a comfortable 45-minute introduction in the first half against Roma before making way for 34-year-old captain Lewis Dunk. Not least commanding a regular spot amid competition from Dunk, Olivier Boscagli, and fellow summer arrivals Pascal Struijk (signed from Leeds United), and Michael Svoboda (Venezia). Igor Julio and Eiran Cashin are also still on the books, although they are likely to leave before the end of the summer.

“It’s been really easy, because my team-mates and the coaching staff and all the club have been helping me since I came here,” says Vuskovic of his early taste of the environment at Brighton. “Whoever is the best in games, in training, will start. It’s great to have competition. In my position we have a lot of good players and who is best will play, it’s simple as that.”

It will not be quite as simple as that for Fabian Hurzeler, since the head coach has to factor in squad rotation after qualifying for the Europa Conference League after a second successive eighth-place finish under the German last season. A tie over two legs in the play-offs round, almost certainly against Tromso, takes place either side of the visit of Aston Villa on the opening weekend of the Premier League on August 23.

Hurzeler pointed out upon the completion of Vuskovic’s move — on a five-year deal with an option for a further year — that he is “still a young guy who will need time to adjust to the demands of playing for Brighton and to the Premier League”.

Vuskovic makes his Brighton debut against Roma (Steve Bardens/Getty Images)

Vuskovic is confident that he has chosen the right destination for the next phase of his development, given Brighton’s reputation for improving young talent. “I think it’s the best step for me in my career,” he says. “It’s one of the biggest machines in the world for producing young players, as we could see in the last years, and that we will see in the future. I think it’s a top club, they showed me a top project and it was very simple.”

Vuskovic speaks with self-assured maturity for his tender age. He has grown up fast and he is unlikely to be overawed by the Premier League. Asked if it is a league he always wanted to play in, Vuskovic delivered a surprising response that hints at an ambition to play in La Liga in the future.

“I look forward to playing in (the Premier League), but it was not my biggest dream,” he says. “It’s the best league in the world, of course, and I’m more than happy to play my first game really soon. I’m really happy and let’s say in some way proud.” His biggest dream? “I never think of it as that,” he adds. “Maybe Spain, because it’s the most similar life to Croatia.”

Vuskovic is more advanced than most players at his age, despite the absence of any Premier League pedigree. He already has a World Cup appearance on his CV. That came in June against England, marking Harry Kane in Croatia’s opening group fixture of the tournament in the United States.

Kane scored twice, his first goal a penalty, in the first half of that 4-2 defeat in Arlington before Vuskovic was substituted after 66 minutes of his sixth senior outing for his country. He did not feature in Croatia’s other three matches, which concluded with a 2-1 exit against Portugal in the last 32.

What did he learn from facing Kane and his World Cup experience in general? “That every small mistake costs a lot,” Vuskovic says. “He’s obviously one of the best strikers in the world so it was very difficult. It was nice, because I have really good team-mates in Croatia, although we were obviously not happy with the result.”

Luka Vuskovic in World Cup action against England (Paul Ellis/Getty Images)

Vuskovic has seen plenty of Europe during his pathway to the Premier League. While at Tottenham, he spent the second half of the 2023-24 season on loan to Polish side Radomiak Radom. He moved on loan to Belgian Pro League outfit Westerlo in 2024-25, then impressed in a third loan spell with Hamburg last season, scoring six goals in 28 league appearances in Germany’s Bundesliga.

“My time in Poland helped me as a player a lot,” says Vuskovic. “Then Westerlo, then Hamburg. All those moves were very important and I’m very happy that I went through it all. I’m just 19, so there’s so many things to work on, so much room for improvement. I will try to work as much as possible to unlock all of them.”

Whether that includes external self-analysis alongside the expertise Brighton provide remains to be seen. Vuskovic has been working with Smart 11, a Netherlands-based self-analysis app, as revealed by The Athletic in July. Those preparations often happen close to kick-off before matches.

“I will speak with them (Smart 11),” Vuskovic says. “They are really amazing, I would recommend them to anybody. I started to work with them two years ago. They really helped me a lot, but now at Brighton we also have a lot of analysis, so we will see what happens.”

Van Hecke was seen as a natural successor to Dunk as Brighton’s skipper before moving to Tottenham. Struijk and Svoboda both captained their former clubs and Vuskovic’s leadership qualities were noted during his spell last season with Hamburg. “I’ve been trying to do that since I came here and I will always try to do it,” he says. “It’s how I am as a person.”

If Vuskovic grows into a Premier League regular and leader at Brighton, that club-record fee will turn into a smart piece of business.

We have a busy day’s racing on Tuesday with All-Weather action from Lingfield Park, live on Sky Sports Racing…

3.30 Lingfield – Deedaydiva and She Commands clash in feature

This afternoon’s card from Lingfield Park is spearheaded by Deedaydiva and She Commands clashing in the feature, the British Stallion Studs EBF Fillies’ Handicap.

Deedaydiva has some solid form in the book with smart displays as a two-year-old and for all she’s yet to make her mark at three, she remains unexposed and is interesting back here after a break.

She Commands comes here with two wins from four starts, winning once as a juvenile and once this season. She was behind Deedaydiva on debut but saw out the year with a smart performance to beat a useful type at Kempton. She made another good step forward on reappearance when winning at Wolverhampton, but a below-par effort in the Sandringham sees her drop back into calmer waters today.

Pomme Pomme was a force to be reckoned with last Summer, winning five on the bounce but she is without a win since June of last year now and needs to rediscover some of her old form if she is to land a blow.

2.30 Lingfield – Shifra looks to defy five-pound rise

Our opening race of the day is the Smarter Gambling Starts At gambling.com Handicap which sees Shifra looking to defy the five-pound rise.

Pat Phelan’s filly brought up the first win of her career on the turf track here in June, and the race reads very well with the runner-up and third both winning twice since. Seamus Cronin maintains the partnership and any improvement should make Shifra hard to beat.

Chico Dulce has winning form over course and distance, and now only a pound above his last winning mark with Billy Loughnane onboard, he could prove dangerous.

Pat Phelan also combines with Paddy Bradley as Dubai Harbour looks to make it three course and distance successes, but hasn’t won since February 2025. He is six-pounds below his last winning mark however, so cannot be ruled out.

3.00 Lingfield – Desert Sands out to advertise strong form-lines in valuable novice

Top-rated Desert Sands headlines a field of five in the valuable Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 British EBF Fillies’ Restricted Novice Stakes.

Ismail Mohammed and Jose Santos’ filly has bumped into her share of black-type performers in just three starts, with two promising maiden efforts either side of a solid enough display in the Albany at Royal Ascot. She could prove very hard to beat this afternoon.

Ouragan was beaten by Sweet Solera heroine Sugar Yes Please on her penultimate start but needs to bounce back from a lacklustre display at Wolverhampton last time out. There could be more to come from Archie Watson’s filly.

Bellatina, Birkacre Brow and Crimson Blaze complete the quintet.

Best of the rest

1.18 – 6.30: Eight-race card at Deauville including six handicaps

4.30 Lingfield – Bone Marra and Do Bronxs do battle in decent Class Four contest.

5.47 Vittel – Class Two.

How do you replace Pep Guardiola?

Enzo Maresca is just starting to find out this summer, having been chosen as the Spaniard’s successor at Manchester City – returning after being Guardiola’s assistant during the club’s Treble-winning 2022-23 campaign.

Guardiola, one of the greatest managers of his generation, stepped down at the end of last season after leading City to 17 major trophies, including six Premier League titles and a Champions League victory.

Now, with his first pre-season as manager at the club nearing its end, Maresca sat down with the five travelling UK-based media in Seoul to discuss the challenges ahead.

“After 10 games, if we have got 10 points, 20 points, 30 points. People will be comparing it to Pep after 10 games, it doesn’t put pressure on me,” said Maresca.

“I have said many times while I was at Leicester or Chelsea, he is the best manager in the world over the last 15 or 20 years.

“When he started in Spain, everyone wanted to play like Barcelona, he moved to Germany everyone wanted to play like Bayern [Munich], he comes to England and everyone wants to play like City.

“Someone asked me if it’s the impossible job to follow him – maybe, but at the same time it’s a privilege.”

The ex-Chelsea boss says he met Guardiola in Barcelona a day before he officially signed as his replacement, as it was “useful” to pick his brains – having been at the club for a decade.

“We spent some hours together,” he said. “We had planned before the season finished here to spend some time in the summer holidays together.

“I like to go in empty sometimes to see things for myself – but he was here so long, he has his opinions. But also you have to arrive and see things for yourself, see all the picture.”

To signal a change for the players, Maresca has moved into the office of former assistant Pep Lijnders at City’s headquarters, next door to Guardiola’s old office – which has now been converted into a meeting room.

Shortly after his appointment as the City boss at the end of June, Maresca apologised to former club Chelsea for the “disruption” caused by his mid-season departure.

So what did he do during the intervening six months?

“I tried to enjoy a little bit more [time] with the family,” he says about his wife and four children.

“And everyone is talking about AI, so I want to understand how it works. So I did two masterclasses to understand it a little bit more and have more knowledge.”

Such has been the rise of artificial intelligence in everyday life, even Premier League managers are now beginning to dabble in it for those marginal gains.

But Maresca is going to need more than AI to make a success of his City career, having taken over from one of the greatest managers of his generation.