People reading too much into Dejan Kulusevski’s parting message

There’s been a lot, too much in fact, made of Dejan Kulusevski’s parting message to Juventus supporters as he ventured to his new home, Tottenham. 

The 21-year-old Swede is in London preparing for life as a Tottenham Hotspur player. The club hasn’t officially announced the deal yet, but rest assured, Kulusevski is preparing himself to be a key part of Totenham’s push for a top-four berth and the holy grail of Champions League qualification.

Here’s what Kulusevski said to Juventus supporters as he prepared to depart Turin:

"“I have enjoyed my time in Italy and will potentially (or hope to) be back one day.”"

Harmless, simple and pretty innocuous if you ask me. Yet some quarters of the media and general public interpret it differently.

He didn’t, in my opinion, say he’ll “potentially be back one day” to hint at a failed or fleeting loan deal at Spurs. Nor did he say it in reference to possibly demanding a return to the Old Lady at season’s end.

The loan deal will have a mandatory to-buy clause if Kulusevski meets the as-of-yet undisclosed stipulations required to trigger it. The stipulations will be appearance and, of course, performance-based. Once the mandatory to-buy clause is triggered, Kulusevski will be under contract at Tottenham for five seasons.

If the deal indeed does turn permanent, Spurs will be obliged to pay about €40 million in total. Original reports indicate that Kulusevski will earn about €3 million plus add-ons, according to transfer specialist Nicolo Schira. That’s just under €60,000 per week (just under £50 00 per week).

There’s no way Kulusevski was speaking about returning to the Old Lady after failing to meet the to-buy clause requirements. That would be a senseless self-deprecating act. There’s also no way Kulusevski, before even getting on the plane, is already contemplating his impending return to Juventus.

“Potentially be back one day” could also mean way down the line, in the future, perhaps in five years after a successful loan deal-turned-permanent transfer. That would make more sense. Still, though, even that side of it is being way overblown.

It’s like when you’re about to board a flight and depart for pastures anew, and you say to the woman you’ve been seeing, “it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later.”

Whether or not it eventually comest true, it’s the gesture that counts.

He was simply speaking from the heart, expressing to a city and its people his thanks. Footballers’ words are often taken either too literally or out of context.

Of course there’s a chance he will return to Turin, but his message was nothing more than a kind farewell and a maybe see you later.

It wasn’t Tottenham-related and had no deeper, more implied or unspoken meaning.

Kulusevski’s message had nothing to do with Tottenham, London or his forthcoming loan deal and everything to do with wishing a city and its people a pleasant goodbye. No, check that, see ya later, maybe, possibly.