The Tottenham Hotspur attacker has been out of action for 14 months but is beginning to show positive signs on his comeback trail
Tottenham's Dejan Kulusevski has posted his most promising social media clip yet showing the Swede on the comeback trail.
Kulusevski last played a match on May 11, 2025 when he suffered a complicated patella injury inside his right knee during Spurs ' Premier League derby with Crystal Palace, after he was caught in a tackle by England international Marc Guehi. It has now been almost 14 months since that injury and the talented Swede's setbacks with his knee have been well documented since, with a clean-up procedure after discomfort in training and then his World Cup dream left in tatters as he was unable to get back in action before the end of last season.
However, the 26-year-old has put up plenty of videos in recent days of him training individually with a ball and a coach to get himself closer to making a comeback.
Last week Kulusevski posted a video on his Instagram story of him passing the ball to his trainer, controlling the different types of passes back at various heights and then jogging on to strike the ball into two small goals. It was not high intensity work but the Swede appeared to be moving freely and hitting the ball accurately.
Then on Sunday, the former Juventus attacker uploaded an even more promising couple of videos with him running in and curling in shots from the outside of the box into different corners of a full sized net. Kulusevski was using plenty of power and either kicking with that right leg or putting plenty of weight on it as he used his left foot to shoot.
It was the most promising footage seen yet of Kulusevski going through proper football motions since his injury.
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It comes amid doubts over the player's return with former Sweden international Simon Thern writing in his column for the media outlet fotballskanalen last week: "Kulusevski. I had played Dejan centrally. Incredible at covering and keeping the ball, dangerous going forward. It feels like a perfect midfield trio! If Kulusevski makes it back to football... I've started to doubt it after seeing pictures of how he moves."
It might just be a coincidence, but since that article appeared online, Kulusevski has increased his social media posting of his training sessions.
Before the World Cup, Sweden's national team doctor Jonas Werner had gone into detail about Kulusevski's knee and the problems with it.
"It's been a long story with Dejan. He's done everything he can to get ready, but when it came to deciding [if he would make the squad] he wasn't," he said. "The reason is that he hasn't played football in a year, but even the medical assessments made this spring have pointed in the direction that he wouldn't be ready."
He added: "Cartilage injuries, like in Dejan's case, are troublesome. They are difficult to treat. Plus, he has it in a place that gets a lot of stress. The injury simply hasn't healed enough to handle that stress."
When asked if the Spurs man will be able to come back and play football again, the doctor said: "I have high hopes for that and I really hope so."