Dejan Kulusevski returns after 526 days — can he ignite Spurs attack? The Times Tom Allnutt Tom Allnutt Dejan Kulusevski returns after 526 days — can he ignite Spurs attack? Tottenham have had three head coaches and signed 20 players since Sweden winger suffered knee injury in May 2025, but nobody has been able to truly replace him Kulusevski could make his competitive return against Coventry on Monday Shutterstock Tom Allnutt Sunday October 18 2026, 7.15pm BST , The Times Listen 0:00 / · 8:22 min Share Share this article Email Twitter Facebook Link Save When Dejan Kulusevski last played a competitive football match, Tottenham Hotspur had a different captain, coach and chairman. The trophy cabinet was different, the most recent piece of silverware still 17 years old, and the team was different, given half of the squad that day are no longer there. Leicester City were still in the Premier League. Argentina were still world champions. What really underlines the scale of change since Kulusevski injured his knee in a collision with Marc Guéhi — still with Crystal Palace at the time — on May 11, 2025, is that Tottenham have since had three different head coaches — Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and Roberto De Zerbi — who Kulusevski has never played for. In the three intervening transfer windows, Spurs have signed 20 players either permanently or on loan, at a cost of ￡530million, who Kulusevski has never played with either. Most commented 1 Trump claims to be 'negotiating peace' as rift with Zelensky deepens Russia-Ukraine war 79 comments 2 Third of investors ready to stop UK spending after budget Politics 53 comments 3 Douglas Dunn obituary: Scottish poet and academic Obituaries 7 comments 4 New 'We're 34 — we can't wait to start being landlords' Property & Home 2 comments 5 New The beauty expert's all-time favourite hair products Beauty 7 comments Nobody has replaced Kulusevski, though, despite the numerous players who have been tried on Tottenham's right wing. In his first three seasons, he contributed 33 goals and assists in 84 league games for Spurs, while in the first half of the 2024-25 season, the one in which he got injured, he created more chances than any other player in the Premier League. With Spurs struggling for goals this season under De Zerbi, a prime Kulusevski would still walk into this Tottenham team. Kulusevski suffered the knee injury against Palace on May 11, 2025, and hasn't played for Spurs since… John Walton/PA …he was on crutches in Bilbao when Spurs won the Europa League final ten days later Ricardo Larreina/Tottenham Hotspur FC/Shutterstock Whether he can ever get near that level again remains to be seen. Kulusevski is still only 26, but it will be a challenge even to play regular matches, with hamstring, quad and calf injuries common among players after what experts call “prolonged periods of deconditioning”, as well as bone stress problems if the return to action is too sudden. After knee surgery specifically, the quad and hamstring are particularly affected because those muscles are not activated as often during recovery. They suffer from “muscle shrinking”, creating weakness in those areas unless strengthened properly. Top stories 1 New Caitlin Moran: People hate me, my hair, my face, my feminism Life 2 New Clodagh McKenna: I always get up at 6am on holiday. I love the calm Inspiration 3 16 of the best safaris in Africa Africa 4 13 of the best affordable hotels in New York New York City 5 The Marylebone pop-up for Christmas-maxxers LUXX It is why Kulusevski has been doing such an extended period of training at Tottenham with the aim of reducing the chance of follow-up injuries, but there are no guarantees. The intensity of a competitive Premier League fixture cannot be replicated in friendlies or drills. James Maddison, for example, played for the first time in May last season after recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained ten months before and has still been restricted to five substitute appearances in the present campaign as he builds up his fitness. Restarting training really is just the start. Advertisement Yet De Zerbi confirmed on Sunday that Kulusevski will be in his match-day squad for the home game against Coventry City on Monday night, which comes 526 days since he last kicked a ball competitively for Tottenham. Even a jog up the line to warm up will be given a rapturous reception at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Top stories 1 New Caitlin Moran: People hate me, my hair, my face, my feminism Life 2 New The beauty expert's all-time favourite hair products Beauty 3 New Tony Hadley: Fans still threw their knickers on stage after I became a dad Parenting 4 New The ten companies fund managers think will make them billions Saving & Investing 5 New 'Mum is dating a fraudster. What can I do?' Family Finances “Yes, Kulusevski is on the bench,” De Zerbi said. “We had a meeting with the medical staff. They gave the OK and it's great news. I think it's one of the best [bits of] news after the Everton game last season [when Spurs avoided relegation] because he has suffered too much. He deserves to feel emotion on the pitch.” Kulusevski is yet to play under De Zerbi Dave Shopland/Shutterstock Even returning to the squad will be a remarkable moment for a player whose career many thought to be finished. After Kulusevski's first day of full training on August 31, his wife, Eldina, wrote him a letter, which he posted on social media. “You were told you might never play again. But they clearly didn't know who you are,” she wrote. “Tonight we are not just celebrating a training session — we are celebrating proof of perseverance, courage and love for what you do, and that these can overcome what once seemed impossible.” Soon after, on September 4, De Zerbi said Kulusevski had suffered a “small, small problem”, which meant he briefly went back to working alone at Hotspur Way, but he has been training with the squad now for more than a month. During the three-week international break, Kulusevski played an 11-aside training match made up of seniors against academy players. He travelled with the squad for the match away to Manchester United last weekend in a supporting, rather than playing, capacity but unlike other injured players was sat down next to the bench, at the behest of De Zerbi, instead of in the stands. The Swede trained at Hotspur Way on Tuesday before flying to Marbella as part of De Zerbi's first-team bonding trip this week. Nobody knew what was to come in May 2025, when Ange Postecoglou called it “just a knock” after Kulusevski damaged his right patella — the triangular bone at the front of the knee joint — during that collision with Guéhi at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Kulusevski played on for a minute and walked off the pitch when substituted, with fans crossing their fingers he might recover in time for the Europa League final ten days later. Advertisement Spurs have struggled to fill the void left by Kulusevski on the right wing, despite spending more than ￡500m on players Marc Atkins/Getty Images Instead, Kulusevski attended the final in Bilbao on crutches and underwent surgery that same month, after which he posted a gruesome photo on social media of his knee carved open, with a joking caption that read: “Thank god it happened so I could see it clear.” Targets to return — at the start of 2026 and for the World Cup last summer especially — repeatedly proved misplaced, to the extent that Kulusevski and his team have consciously decided to take more of a day-by-day approach in recent months to avoid disappointments. Just as he hoped to rejoin training at the end of 2025, Kulusevski was still feeling pain in his knee and, after injections in January proved insufficient, he underwent an arthroscopy procedure in March that, in Kulusevski's words, “took out what was not supposed to be there”. Kulusevski was gutted to miss the chance to play at the World Cup for Sweden, left out of the squad after Graham Potter said he would not have been able to do the running or 11-a-side work required. Sweden's team doctor, Jonas Werner, explained how cartilage injuries are “troublesome” and “difficult to treat”, and said “the injury simply hasn't healed enough to handle that stress”. When Tottenham showed footage of Kulusevski training in August, the message from the club was to downplay expectations, given a return was still thought to be some way off. Kulusevski returned to full training on August 31, after the disappointment of missing out on Sweden's World Cup campaign Shutterstock Sensitivity at Spurs around Kulusevski's recovery is understandable, given the zigzagging nature of an injury that Frank said “we haven't seen that much in football history”. At one point, Frank even banned journalists from asking about Kulusevski in press conferences, insisting he would instead provide any updates when he had them. Kulusevski's rehabilitation has also coincided with a huge amount of upheaval in Tottenham's medical department over the past two years. He has worked with club staff but external specialists as well, to better understand his recovery. Much of the road back has also been taken alone, which has required Kulusevski to draw upon the mental fortitude that he calls “the Balkan mentality”, inherited from his father, who was born in Sweden to Macedonian parents. Postecoglou once said Kulusevski was the same breed as the likes of Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of his relentless determination to succeed. Kulusevski got on well with Ronaldo when they played together at Juventus. When Fabio Paratici left Juventus to join Tottenham as sporting director and brought Kulusevski with him for ￡25m, he told the Spurs hierarchy how the Italian club would one day “see it as a robbery”. Advertisement Yet athleticism has always been key for Kulusevski. Without lightning pace, his dribbling has relied on his ability to send an opponent one way and then the other, to go and stop and then go again. That requires stamina but also agility, power and trust in the body, all of which will be as important to his comeback now as the ripping delivery with his left foot. It is a reminder of something else Paratici said about Kulusevski before he arrived at Spurs; that he would be well suited to the Premier League as a winger con motore, with an engine. Perhaps, finally, he is about to rev it up again. Tottenham Hotspur v Coventry City Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Premier League Monday, kick-off 8pm TV : Sky Sports Sport Football Premier League Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Football Share Share this article Email Twitter Facebook Link Save