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.”