Kulusevski's Long-Awaited Return to Tottenham Training
Tottenham’s long wait is nearly over. After 19 months of uncertainty, frustration and what-ifs, Dejan Kulusevski is finally back in full training – and with him returns a slice of the identity Spurs lost.
Kulusevski’s 19-month fight back
The Sweden international has not played a competitive minute since the end of the 2024/25 season. A severe right patella injury didn’t just halt his progress; it stopped his career in its tracks. Nineteen months on the sidelines. Nineteen months watching from a distance as his teammates fought without him. Nineteen months that also robbed him of a World Cup.
The road back has been anything but smooth. His first attempt to return in August brought a minor setback, another cruel delay when the finish line finally seemed close. Only now, at 26, has he rejoined full sessions with the senior squad, and inside the training ground the effect is immediate. A group still searching for its first league win, and even its first league goal, suddenly has a familiar spark back on the grass.
Saturday’s meeting with Aston Villa will come too soon for his name to appear on the teamsheet. Tottenham will not rush this. The internal target is a competitive return in October or November, once the medical and fitness staff are satisfied his knee – and his confidence – can withstand the intensity of Premier League football.
Roberto De Zerbi made it clear he sees more than just a good player returning. He sees a personality the dressing room has missed.
“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 the injury, Kulusevski had become the team’s reference point in a turbulent 2024/25 campaign. When others dipped, he drove games, linked attacks, and often dragged Spurs forward almost on his own. Inside the club, there is no doubt: his absence changed the trajectory of the following season.
Maddison edging back, too
Kulusevski is not the only creative force trying to piece his career rhythm back together.
James Maddison has endured his own exhausting cycle of hope, rehab and relapse. An ACL tear last August demanded a huge physical and mental effort just to feature at the end of last season, when he helped Spurs claw their way to safety. That alone would have been a full chapter in most careers. Instead, this campaign has brought more problems, this time with his shoulder.
De Zerbi knows exactly what he loses when Maddison is missing. In a squad short on natural playmakers, the 29-year-old offers something close to unique: the ability to dictate tempo, find angles others don’t see and change the mood of a match with one pass or one set piece.
“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 explained, underlining that talent alone is not enough if the body is not ready.
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 been.
A fragile start, a stubborn manager
The table tells its own brutal story. Four Premier League matches. No wins. No goals.
For a club that prides itself on attacking football, the numbers cut deep. A new regime is already under scrutiny, and early-season patience in the stands is being tested. The margins, though, are often fine in these periods. De Zerbi has made it clear he will not abandon his ideas or his players at the first sign of turbulence. His message has been consistent: keep composure, keep believing, and the results will turn.
The return of Porro and Tonali helps. Porro’s energy and delivery from the right, Tonali’s control and range in midfield – both add layers to a side that has too often looked thin, both in numbers and in ideas, over recent weeks.
But it is the sight of Kulusevski gliding back into training drills, and Maddison finally stringing days together without interruption, that really shifts the mood.
Tottenham still have to prove they can score, still have to prove they can win. Yet as October and November loom, the prospect of a front line rebuilt around a fit Kulusevski and a sharp Maddison offers something this season has lacked so far at Spurs: a genuine sense of possibility.
