The Tottenham Hotspur attacker made it clear that he was looking to play at the World Cup this summer for Sweden
Dejan Kulusevski's World Cup dream appears to be over after the Tottenham attacker was left out of Graham Potter's Sweden squad for the tournament.
While Spurs starlet Lucas Bergvall has been named in the squad that will be heading to the tournament in north America, Canada and Mexico this summer, his compatriot Kulusevski has missed out on Potter's squad on Tuesday. The 26-year-old has not played for Tottenham in more than a year after suffering a complicated patella injury in his knee.
Kulusevski's return date kept being put back, although in the last international break after having had a small procedure in March to clean out his knee he told reporters in his homeland then that he had his sights set on playing at the World Cup for Sweden this summer.
"One hundred percent. Yes. That (the World Cup) is the driving force I have. To have that opportunity is absolutely fantastic. It’s a challenge that I haven’t been able to overcome so far in terms of getting healthy, but it’s not over yet. Now the second game starts," he said.
"That’s how it has to end. Otherwise, it hasn’t gone as I planned. I’m absolutely convinced that we’ll win these two games and I’ll be ready to play and play my first World Cup in the USA. That’s how the movie will end, God willing."
Unfortunately Kulusevski was not named in Sweden's squad on Tuesday afternoon and Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi had already expressed some doubts over his inclusion in the competition last week.
The Italian said he was hopeful that the Swede would be back in the country after undergoing rehabilitation abroad and could join his team-mates at the final match of the Premier League season against Everton. De Zerbi said that after a text exchange with the player, he could be returning soon to at least be around the squad for morale on matchdays, like Ben Davies and James Maddison have been doing recently.
When asked then if he thought Kulusevski could still play at the World Cup next month, De Zerbi said: "I don’t know the situation well. I hope so but I don’t know his injury and I can’t say nothing more. For me, it’s difficult to understand how he can play at the World Cup if he didn’t play any games this season.
"But I texted him after [the Villa game]. He told me in the next week, I think, he comes back and I hope he can be available to stay with us in the last game because he is an amazing player."