Dejan Kulusevski Returns to Tottenham Training After 19-Month Injury
Tottenham have been waiting a long time to feel this kind of news.
Dejan Kulusevski, out of competitive action since the end of the 2024/25 season, is finally back in full training. A brutal right patella injury ripped 19 months out of his career and denied him a place at the summer World Cup, turning what should have been his prime into a long, lonely fight to get back.
Now, at 26, he has rejoined the senior group. For a squad still hunting their first league win and even their first goal of the season, his return is more than a medical update. It’s a jolt of belief.
Kulusevski’s long road back
The winger’s rehabilitation has not been straightforward. An initial attempt to return in August ended with a minor setback, extending the wait and testing his patience all over again. This time, though, the club are convinced he has turned the corner.
Saturday’s clash with Aston Villa will still come too early for him to feature. Tottenham’s staff are instead targeting a competitive comeback in October or November, wary of rushing a player they see as central to their attacking identity.
Roberto De Zerbi made it clear how highly he values both the player and the person.
“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 the standout performer in a chaotic 2024/25 campaign, a rare constant in a side that lurched from one crisis to another. The injury wiped out the entire following season and left a creative void Tottenham never truly filled.
His re-emergence now feels perfectly timed for a team that has forgotten what it looks like to celebrate.
Maddison fighting his own battle
Kulusevski is not the only creative force clawing his way back to full sharpness.
James Maddison has spent the last year trapped in his own stop-start cycle. An ACL tear last August forced him into a race against time just to make it back for the end of last season, where he played through the pain to help Spurs avoid relegation. The new campaign has brought more frustration, this time with shoulder problems disrupting his rhythm.
De Zerbi, though, sees a player whose qualities remain unmatched in his squad.
“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,” he said, stressing that Maddison’s craft still has to be underpinned by full physical sharpness.
The manager confirmed that Maddison, along with Pedro Porro and Sandro Tonali, is in contention for the Villa match, a significant boost given how stretched the group has looked.
Pressure builds on De Zerbi’s new era
Tottenham head into the weekend in a fragile state. Four Premier League games, no wins, no goals. For a club that built its identity on attacking football, the numbers are stark and the noise around De Zerbi’s early tenure is getting louder.
He has refused to panic, insisting performances will eventually turn into points if the players keep their nerve. The potential return of key figures gives him more tools to work with, and perhaps a little more margin for error.
Porro and Tonali, both absent for the midweek cup defeat to Liverpool, are expected to be available, restoring balance and depth to a side that has been stretched thin across the pitch.
The cavalry is not quite here yet. Kulusevski still has weeks to go before he can pull on the shirt again in a competitive fixture. But for a club desperate for a spark, the sight of him back in full training, Maddison edging towards form, and senior starters returning to the fold offers something they have been short of since August.
A way out of this early-season slump now rests on whether those returning talents can turn promise into points — and how quickly they can do it.
