The length of Dejan Kulusevski‘s absence told of the seriousness of his knee injury but it was not until the heartfelt open letter from his family was it evident just how clear and grave the warnings had been.
‘They said you might never play again,’ read the letter written in Swedish by his wife Eldina, a former Bosnia international footballer, and posted social media on the day he returned to full training at Tottenham. ‘They obviously don’t know who you are.’
This was on September 1, 477 days after damaging a kneecap in an innocuous collision in a Premier League game against Crystal Palace at the end of Ange Postecoglou’s reign and a significant family milestone.
More than a month on, having overcome the somewhat inevitable niggly setback as his body reacted to the rigours of full contact sport once again, his personal day counter has ticked up to 513. Kulusevski though continues to advance and is closing in on the matchday squad.
He has been on the full first-team schedule during the three-week international break. He took the first week off along with the other Spurs first-teamers not on duty with their national teams. And at the end of the second week, the 26-year-old Swede played in an internal game at the training centre when Roberto De Zerbi’s senior side went 11-v-11 against a team made from the Under 18s and Under 21s.
Caution remains the watchword but as the Premier League returns with Spurs rock bottom and in desperate need of a boost, Kulusevski is almost ready.
It is now 513 days since Dejan Kulusevski limped off with what appeared an innocuous injury at home to Crystal Palace in May 2025. He still has not played a competitive match since then
The Swede was forced to sit out the entirety of last season after suffering what turned out to be a catastrophic knee injury
Caution remains the watchword but as the Premier League returns with Spurs rock bottom and in desperate need of a boost, Kulusevski is almost ready to return
When fighting relegation at the end of last season, De Zerbi brought James Maddison into the matchday squad after a serious knee injury despite having no intention of playing him. Maddison’s chief role was to lift the spirits of his team-mates and fans, and perhaps Kulusevski will be invited to fulfil a similar role as he nears what is sure to be a very emotional moment when he steps back onto the pitch.
Whatever happens next it has been a Herculean effort. The open letter from his wife detailed the ‘pain’ and ‘doubt’ and ‘surgeries’ and ‘countless hours of training and rehabilitation’ and how his ‘strength’ and ‘patience’ would be inspiration for his two daughters.
‘This is a story I will tell our daughters many times,’ wrote Eldina. ‘How their father continued without any guarantees. How he carried on when no one was watching, when no one was applauding, and when no one could promise him it would be worth it.
‘How their father went through surgeries, pain and setbacks, how he doubted and fell – but got up. Every. Single. Time. How their father was told that he might never play football again – and yet refused to let anyone else write the end of his story. How their father showed us strength isn’t about never breaking down – it’s about finding a reason to keep going, even when you do.
‘And one day, when life tests our daughters, I will tell them about these 477 days, so they never forget what blood runs in their veins.’
During his time out Spurs have churned through four different managers, three captains, two chairmen and various alternatives for his role on the right wing. None have come close to providing the creative spark that Kulusevski can.
Home life changed too, married last summer with a second child, a second daughter born this year. Through it all, Kulusevski has remained laser-focused on what he had to do. His usual dedication to his craft, somehow enhanced by his determination to fight back and not let this be the end of him.
It is perhaps no coincidence that he has been close to both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo at times in his career. Both had super-human personal drive fuelled by a refusal to be written off.
It is perhaps no coincidence that he has been close to both Zlatan Ibrahimovic (with Sweden) and Cristiano Ronaldo (at Juventus) at times in his career
Both had super-human personal drive fuelled by a refusal to be written off – and that appears to have rubbed off on Kulusevski
‘It’s incredible how strong he’s been on this journey,’ said Yasin Ayari, the Brighton and Sweden midfielder who is engaged to Kulusevski’s sister Sandra, last month. ‘Not many people can wake up and keep fighting after going through this much.
‘He keeps fighting and is happy at the same time. When it comes down to it, it’s not normal. He’s very strong mentally. I learn a lot from that.’
This is not the first time in Kulusevski’s career that his resilience has been tested. There were difficulties adjusting to a new life when he left Brommapojkarna in Stockholm at 16 to sign for Atalanta in Italy. There were injuries and a hitch with his registration which kept him out of football for a year.
‘I was living in a tiny room with a bed, a TV and a toilet,’ said Kulusevski in an interview with Players Tribune in 2024. ‘I went to school seven hours a day, but I didn’t understand anything, so I’d sit there and write down rhymes and football formations, bored out of my mind. Once I got home, I would watch TV or speak to my mother for hours. Stuff like, “How was your day? How’s Sweden? What are you doing?” We spoke every single day.’
His parents were born and raised in what was then the Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. Father Stefan worked at Arlanda Airport driving shuttle buses, often long shifts through the night with a typically Balkan refusal to complain. Mother Katica encouraged her son to come home but he was determined not to give up.
Kulusevski added: ‘When I was in Italy, she was like, “Come home! Come back to Sweden”. But I had this voice telling me no. Giving up is what everybody does, and you can’t do what everybody does. I just had to dig it out.’
Patience and determination paid off with a successful loan at Parma, a move to Juventus and then to Spurs in January 2022 and he kicked on and thrived in the free-flowing style of Ange Postecoglou. His excellence in the opening weeks of 2024-25 was typified in an outstanding display in a 4-0 win at Manchester City.
The injury against Palace did not cause instant alarm. Indeed it was now-infamously dismissed by Postecoglou as ‘just a knock’ after the match. Scans soon revealed more severe damage to his knee. Kulusevski underwent surgery and attended the 2025 Europa League final on crutches, with his right leg in a heavy-duty brace.
Kulusevski underwent surgery and attended the 2025 Europa League final on crutches, with his right leg in a heavy-duty brace
The injury forced Kulusevski to miss last summer’s World Cup, and he has not played for Sweden since November 2024
The road back has been difficult at a time when his team has slid into a relegation crisis last season. He did not play at all under Thomas Frank or Igor Tudor, and is still waiting to turn out for De Zerbi.
Initial forecasts had been for him to return in December last year, but he reported pain in the knee when the time came for him to step up his training regime on the ball.
Spurs treated him in January with a course of injections in the hope it would settle without further surgery, then in March what he called ‘a small intervention’ to clean out the joint.
Time lost to these complications cost him a chance to play at the World Cup, and it is now two years since he won the most recent of his 45 caps for his country.
Sweden’s team doctor Jonas Werner explained: ‘Cartilage injuries like in Dejan’s case are troublesome. They are difficult to treat. Plus, he has it in a place that gets a lot of stress. The injury simply hasn’t healed enough to handle that stress.’
Werner indicated possible damage to the cartilage which enables the patella to glide across the end of the thigh bone without abrasion, and it was a rare clue as to what might have happened to Kulusevski’s kneecap.
This type of cartilage problem can be consistent with patella dislocation and the initial hope that it might not be serious. The patella can pop out and back into place but is always liable to damage other parts of the joint, including the cartilage, as it jolts.
It is fraught with complexity and genuine concerns such as those revealed by Kulusevski when he finally returned to training. Hence the heavy silence from Spurs, who have never confirmed anything beyond the most basic details of a patella injury.
Initial forecasts had been for him to return in December last year, but he reported pain in the knee when the time came for him to step up his training regime on the ball
Nobody expects prime Kulusevski to come flying out of the traps but, slowly, he is getting there. No longer does it seem a question of if but when
Kulusevski missed the club’s summer tour to New Zealand and Australia and his welcome progress since the March surgery has continued amid extreme caution designed to avoid putting pressure on a return date.
When footage was released on Spurs media channels in early August of Kulusevski running with the ball and shooting as part of a training exercise with Mohamed Kudus it came with a warning not to get carried away.
The knee might have been feeling good as new, but there were tests still to pass, and fitness levels and sharpness to regain and his body had to become accustomed once more to competitive football.
Nobody expects prime Kulusevski to come flying out of the traps but, slowly, he is getting there. No longer does it seem a question of if but when. And this should be a cause for celebration at Spurs and beyond.
