Dejan Kulusevski's Road to Recovery: Tottenham's Hopeful Return
Tottenham have been waiting a long time to see Dejan Kulusevski back where he belongs. Nineteen months, a wrecked right patella and a World Cup watched from the sofa have turned a rising career into a long, lonely rehab story.
Now the ending is finally in sight.
Kulusevski’s long road back
The Sweden international has not played a competitive minute since the end of the 2024/25 season. His knee injury was brutal, the kind that doesn’t just halt momentum but threatens to redraw the whole trajectory of a career. For almost two years, Spurs have had to imagine what their attack might look like with him, rather than build around him in real time.
After a painstaking rehabilitation – including a minor setback when he tried to push for a return in August – the 26-year-old is back in full training with the first team. For a squad still hunting their first league win and their first league goal of the season, his presence alone changes the mood.
He will not feature against Aston Villa on Saturday. That step comes too soon. Inside the club, eyes are fixed on October or November for a competitive comeback, a timeline Tottenham are determined not to rush.
Head coach Roberto De Zerbi made it clear they will wrap him in care.
“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 former Brighton manager said. “He’s a good player, he’s a good guy and he deserves to play again.”
Before the injury, Kulusevski was the bright light in a turbulent 2024/25 campaign, widely viewed as Spurs’ standout performer in a season that offered few other certainties. Losing him for the whole of the following year ripped a creative and emotional pillar out of the side. Getting him back, even just on the training pitch, feels like a restart.
Maddison battles on, creative core returning
Kulusevski is not the only playmaker trying to drag his body back to full power.
James Maddison has lived his own injury saga. An ACL tear last August forced him into a race against time just to make it back for the end of last season, where his contribution was key in helping Spurs avoid relegation. That effort came at a cost. This campaign has already brought fresh shoulder problems and more time on the treatment table.
De Zerbi knows exactly what he loses when Maddison is missing.
The manager stressed that the 29-year-old brings qualities that are scarce in this squad and confirmed that Maddison is now back in the mix for the Villa game, along with Pedro Porro and Sandro Tonali.
“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,” De Zerbi said.
For a side that has yet to find the net in four Premier League outings, the potential return of Maddison’s passing range and set-piece threat is no small boost.
Pressure builds as De Zerbi backs his players
The numbers are stark. Four league games, no wins, no goals. A new regime already feeling the weight of the table and the glare that comes with it.
The midweek cup defeat to Liverpool only tightened the knot around this group, but at least there is some relief on the squad front. Porro and Tonali, both absent for that tie, are available again and give De Zerbi options in areas that have looked thin and tired.
The Italian, though, is not blinking. He remains convinced that if his players keep their nerve, the results will eventually match the performances he is trying to build.
With Kulusevski edging closer, Maddison sharpening up and key names like Porro and Tonali back in contention, the pieces are starting to return. The question now is simple: can Tottenham turn that growing sense of possibility into points before the table makes their margin for error disappear?
