Tottenham Hotspur star right winger Dejan Kulusevski is back on the pitch and practicing for the first time, and while he has been out for so long that a 2027 return seemed to be the most likely outcome on the cards for the Swedish international, Spurs fans are suddenly optimistic that an even sooner return for Kulu is possible than the ones for Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons, who themselves are out until 2027 after tearing their ACLs at the end of the 2025/26 Premier League season.
Kulusvevski actually suffered a more devastating knee injury at the end of the 2024/25 season than a torn ACL, and many were worried that his career would even be over after he missed the entirety of the 2025/26 campaign with precisely zero concrete injury updates from the club.
But now, Kulusevski is praciticing, making positive posts on social media, and teasing a return sooner rather than later to a Tottenham team that has missed his leaderhsip, ball progression, technical quality, effort, and intelligence.
Watch for Dejan Kulusevski as a playmaker
Tottenham Hotspur won't be the same and at their very best until Xavi Simons returns to the No. 10 position, and they will also get a boost in a few weeks when James Maddison, who tore his ACL in the 2024/25 season himself, comes back from his most recent injury - a dislocated shoulder suffered on Matchday 1 in the loss to Brentford.
But while Maddison is the backup No. 10 to Simons, Dejan Kulusevski may be the most direct replacement and a player Tottenham fans should be even more excited to see on the pitch in that attacking midfield role whenever he is able to come back from his knee injury.
Tottenham obviously should not risk any sort of aggravation in the slightest with Kulusevski, and they one hundered percent have to be careful and play their cards right with him. But you can already tell Roberto De Zerbi is excited about the Kulusevski return, as he has already, on multiple occasions, referred to the Swedish international as a special player, just like Simons.
This equation to Simons and Kulu as both being special players is telling, because it implies that De Zerbi sees him in the same role as the young Dutch star. Simons looks to be further away than Kulu from coming back, and given what we have seen from Kulu as a playmaker and the fact that he will have less juice in his knees after such a bad injury, Kulusevski could be the real No. 10 alternative that Spurs were waiting for.
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