Loan update | Vuskovic named Bundesliga Player of the Season so far

The Bundesliga winter break comes to an end this weekend for Luka Vuskovic’s Hamburg, and as the second half of the 18-year-old’s loan spell begins, he has been voted as the league’s Player of the Season so far.

Vuskovic came out on top from a 16-player shortlist that included our all-time record goalscorer Harry Kane as well as his Bayern Munich team-mates Michael Olise and Luis Diaz in a fan vote on the Bundesliga’s official app.

The 16 candidates were split into eight head-to-head votes, with the winner of each vote advancing to the next round to create a two-player final, where Vuskovic would face off against Kane.

The Croatian, who has already picked up the Bundesliga Goal of the Year award and multiple Rookie of the Month awards this season, beat the league’s top goalscorer to the award, winning 60% of the vote.

In his 13 Bundesliga appearances, the defender has been a massive factor in Hamburg’s strong start to their first campaign in the top division of German football since 2017/18, currently sitting five points above the division’s two automatic relegation spots.

Vuskovic has been a cut above the rest of the division aerially, winning 81% of his battles in the air, which is a league high, and coming out on top in a Bundesliga-best 70% of his challenges.

Hamburg, who went into the winter break with a 1-1 draw at home to Frankfurt, will travel to Freiburg on Saturday, 10 January for their first game of the new year.