Tottenham beat Man City & PSG to Croatian teenager Luka Vuskovic

Tottenham Hotspur have won the race to sign 16-year-old Croatian centre-back Luka Vuskovic, 90min understands, fending off competition from most of Europe’s elite to get a deal done.

Vuskovic was promoted to the Hajduk Split senior squad in February, making his debut just two days after turning 16, and he has since gone on to make 11 appearances for the Croatian outfit.

90min revealed in March that Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain had both made opening offers for Vuskovic, but the teenager was wanted by most of Europe’s biggest teams and his representatives held talks with a number of top sides, including Barcelona and Bayern Munich, over a deal.

Having seen their asking price of around €15m (£13m) met by most of his suitors, Hajduk gave Vuskovic permission to choose his landing spot and sources have confirmed to 90min that the defender has settled on Spurs.

Spurs are now putting the finishing touches on a deal which is both significant in finances and reputation, having convinced one of Europe’s most in-demand youngsters to move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Centre-back has been a key area of business for Spurs since Ange Postecoglou’s arrival. A £43m deal was struck to sign Dutch defender Micky van de Ven, who has formed a formidable partnership alongside Cristian Romero in the first team.

Behind them, 18-year-old Ashley Phillips has forced his way into Postecoglou’s thinking. The teenager was signed from Blackburn Rovers this summer for around £2m and was initially expected to head out on loan, but he is now firmly established as a first-team player.

Phillips’ emergence helped convince Spurs to part ways with Davinson Sanchez, who has joined Galatasaray, while Eric Dier has been frozen out of the first team and could be sold before the European transfer window closes later this month.

The January window will see Spurs reignite their interest in Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly, for whom a bid was rejected on deadline day.