When Roberto De Zerbi announced that Dejan Kulusevski would be in the Tottenham Hotspur squad for the game against Coventry on Monday Night Football, many fans assumed it was a morale boosting move similar to what De Zerbi did when he first had James Maddison come back from his ACL tear at the end of the 2025/26 season wtih appearances on the bench before coming in as a sub.
Even though Kulu was making great progress from his career threatening knee injury that occurred in the 2024/25 season around the same time as Madders's ailment, Spurs were seemingly taking things cautious, which led to many assuming Kulu would not be back in the team until November for some limited action.
Instead, the Swedish international made his triumphant return against Coventry in a 3-1 win to cap off a dream day for the Tottenham faithful, and he had a memorable run in transition where he looked a bit like the Kulu of old, which gives Spurs fans a lot of hope going forward.
Dejan Kulusevseki is the closer now
Dejan Kuluseveski has been one of Spurs best players over the years since joining from Juventus, and while there are still questions about his fitness and how explosive he can be, that glimpse of a run provided a positive, encouraging answer to the fans about what he can provide.
But all Tottenham Hotspur need from Kuluseveski right now is for him to be a spark. They just need him to do exactly what he did in his return against Coventry: come off the bench, play for a good 10-15 minutes, and help the team progress the ball into the attacking area in transition.
Kulusevski doesn't need to score, he doesn't need to be a world beating one on one player, and he doesn't need to be the team's main creator. Tottenham already have Omar Marmoush and Dominic Solanke tasked with the goals, James Maddison and Sandro Tonali to create, and Savio and Mohammed Kudus to win the take ons.
What they need Kulusevski to do is play smart with the ball, drive the game forward, be incisive, and make good passes to his teammates into the final third so that they are in position to make things happen. Kulu can and will score and assist, and maybe he can be one of the leaders in dribbles completed, too. But for now, Spurs just need Kulu to be a bright spot for 10-15 minutes who helps them close games out with wins.