Three reasons Dejan Kulusevski fits into Conte’s plans at Tottenham

3. Kulu’s aerial presence

Before anyone gets too excited, Kulu isn’t exactly prolific in terms of scoring with his head. Of 36 senior goals, only three have come via his noggin. That’s not to say, even though header goals make up less than 10 percent of his overall return, the Swede doesn’t offer an aerial threat, because he does.

Unless Kulu is playing as the second striker, he won’t be asked too frequently to have his back to goal and hold up play. His 6’1” frame will, however, give Tottenham more of a license to knock aerial balls forward, knowing Kulu is at least in with a chance of winning the duel. The diminutive Lucas Moura, with his slight, agile frame, fits an entirely different mould.

Kulu also offers Tottenham more of an aerial threat from free kicks and corners. Tottenham’s “big men”, a term I use loosely, for those 6 feet or taller, offer almost no threat from set pieces, other than Kane of course.

Eric Dier has four header goals in almost eight years at Spurs, Davinson Sanchez has three in almost five years, only five of Sonny’s 116 goals came from his head, while Cristian Romero nor Pierre Hojbjerg have registered one yet.

As you can plainly see, Tottenham need help in the air, and Kulu can provide that necessary assistance. His 10 percent rate of headed goals is comparatively higher than any other Spurs “big man”, aside from Kane. Even if he doesn’t score bundles with his noggin, he’ll be able to create havoc in the box, which is worth its weight in gold.