Dejan Kulusevski Returns to Tottenham Training After Injury
Tottenham have been waiting a long time to see Dejan Kulusevski back where he belongs.
Nineteen months. A shredded right patella. A World Cup watched from home instead of from the tunnel. For a player who had become the heartbeat of Spurs’ attack, it felt like a career put on pause.
Now, at last, there is movement.
Kulusevski finally back with the group
The Sweden international is back in full training with the senior squad after a brutal lay-off that stretched from the end of the 2024/25 season into this autumn. His first attempt at a comeback in August brought a minor setback, another cruel twist in a rehab already heavy with frustration.
This time, though, he is in with the group, and inside the club the effect has been immediate. A team still searching for its first league win – and its first league goal – suddenly has a jolt of optimism on the training pitch.
Saturday’s meeting with Aston Villa will come too early for any matchday involvement. Tottenham’s staff are instead working towards a competitive return in October or November, choosing caution over desperation with a player they see as central to the project.
Roberto De Zerbi made it clear he will not rush him.
“We have to manage Deki in the best way we can, with the medical staff, physical staff, but it’s a great thing for us,” the Spurs head coach said. “He’s a good player, he’s a good guy and he deserves to play again.”
Before his knee gave way, Kulusevski had been Spurs’ standout performer in a turbulent 2024/25 campaign. While the team lurched, he carried a huge share of the creative burden, driving attacks and dragging them through games. Losing him for the entirety of the following season stripped Tottenham of both quality and personality in the final third.
His reappearance on the grass changes the mood. Even if the comeback is still weeks away, the sight of him back in full sessions is a psychological lift for a squad that has looked short of ideas and confidence.
Maddison edging back, too
Kulusevski is not the only creative fulcrum working his way back.
James Maddison has been locked in his own battle with the treatment room. An ACL tear last August demanded a ferocious effort just to make it back for the end of last season, when he played his part in helping Spurs avoid relegation. The new campaign has brought fresh shoulder issues, another stutter in a stop-start period for a player who should be one of the side’s main conductors.
De Zerbi, though, sees something in Maddison that he cannot replicate elsewhere in the squad. A different tempo. A different vision.
“Listen, James is working with the team in the last 10, 15 days. Maybe less than 15 days and even if he’s a technical player, he needs to be fit, to stay in a good condition,” the Italian said, underlining that quality alone will not be enough without the legs to match it.
The manager confirmed that Maddison, along with Pedro Porro and Sandro Tonali, is in contention for the Villa game. All three missed the midweek cup defeat to Liverpool, a night that underlined just how stretched this squad has become when a few key names are absent.
Their potential return hands De Zerbi options he simply did not have a few weeks ago.
Pressure building, belief unshaken
Tottenham’s league form has been grim. Four games, no wins, no goals. For a new regime trying to install ideas and identity, the numbers are unforgiving and the table is already uncomfortable reading.
The pressure is real. The noise around the club has grown louder with every blank scoreline.
Yet inside the camp, De Zerbi has held his line. He believes performances will turn into points if the players stay composed and keep faith in the work being done on the training ground. The gradual return of his most gifted technicians should only help that process.
Porro’s energy and delivery from the right. Tonali’s control and range in midfield. Maddison between the lines. And, looming just beyond the horizon, Kulusevski’s drive and end product.
For now, Spurs still go into the weekend searching for a first league goal of the season. But with key pieces finally walking back through the door, the bigger question is shifting.
How different might this Tottenham side look once its creators are fully fit and the handbrake can finally come off?
