Dunk's delight at progress of Vuskovic and Yalcouye

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Two young players have caught the skipper's eye since the start of the season.

Nick Szczepanik

2026-09-07T09:30+01:00

Malick Yalcouye has made a big impact since breaking into the team this season.

Lewis Dunk praised the contributions of two of the club’s young players after the 1-1 draw at home to Leeds United.

Luka Vuskovic, 19, scored his first goal for the club and Malick Yalcouye, 20, was voted man of the match.

The skipper has already formed a promising defensive partnership with Vuskovic. “He's settling in really well,” Lewis said. “He's obviously come in and hit the ground running. But I'm sure he can get better and be a top, top, top defender in the future.

“He's played in Germany and I don’t know how many international games [for Croatia], so he's played at a high level already. It's not like he's been thrown in at the deep end. He's handled the physicality of the Premier League very well so far.

“We're just going to need to keep building a partnership and I’ll enjoy playing alongside him. I'm going to keep helping him improve and see where this partnership can go.”

Vuscovic’s goal against Leeds was the result of work on the training ground and Lewis expects it to be the first of many. “He wins most aerial duels,” he said. “We worked hard on our set-pieces over the pre-season.

“That's probably the first corner everyone executed by blocking and doing everything right. Hopefully we can look at that as a team and realise how important it is, blocking to free someone up to score.”

Yalcouye has forced his way into the first reckoning team this season after loan spells at Sturm Graz and Swansea City.

“I think his development has been incredible,” Lewis said. “We haven't seen too much of him over the years. He's been in for a short period of time and gone on loan. This pre-season he has obviously impressed because he's still here.

Luka Vuskovic scored his first goal for the club against Leeds United.

“He's a hungry kid that wants to play football and wants to learn. He's a very shy kid but we're bringing that out of him.

“I think he's shown what he can bring to the club. Everyone looks at him and thinks he's too small. I see him in training every day and he's a tough cookie.

“He'll run into any size. Luka's the biggest, but he'll run against him and smash him. His size doesn't matter and he showed that against a strong and physical Leeds side. He doesn't shy away from it and he gets stuck in.

“He’s another one that will keep improving. He's been a breath of fresh air and hopefully he'll keep helping us.”