Football London

The Tottenham star appears to be nearing a return from injury with Roberto De Zerbi's side facing Manchester United this weekend

Dejan Kulusevski took part in an in-house friendly during the international break as he steps up his recovery from a serious knee injury.

The Tottenham star has been out of action for more than 500 days after suffering that complicated injury to the patella in his right knee during the match against Crystal Palace a couple of seasons ago.

The 26-year-old has been back in training with his team-mates in recent weeks and appears to be fit and ready to be included in the matchday squad for the trip to Old Trafford on Saturday, should Roberto De Zerbi wish to include the Swede in his travelling party.

Kulusevski took the first week of the three-week international break off, just like the other Spurs first-team stars who did not go away with their countries. Then, at the end of the second week, he took part in an internal 11v11 game at Hotspur Way which saw a senior side take on a team made from the Under-18s and Under-21s, according to Daily Mail.

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football.london reported previously that Kulusevski is being treated carefully and cautiously by staff with no pressure on him from anyone when it comes to a timeline but it now appears that a return will be in the near future.

Tottenham are currently rock bottom of the Premier League and are without a win in their opening five league games. De Zerbi must start getting a tune out of his players soon and Kulusevski returning to the matchday squad against Manchester United on Saturday could be the boost the whole team needs. The Italian will provide an update on Kulusevski and the other injured players on Friday.

Kulusevski took to social media last month after making his long-awaited return to training. The former Juventus star said: "After 477 days I came back to full team training. Everything is impossible until is not. Want to see a miracle. Be one. See u soon."

Speaking before the international break, De Zerbi insisted Kulusevski would be like a new signing when he does make his return.

"We have to manage Deki in the best way we can, with the medical staff, physical staff. But it's a great thing for us because he's a good player, he's a good guy," De Zerbi said.

"He deserves to play again. We have to work day by day. Also, for Deki, it's important the international break, because when he will be at the top of condition and pass over the injury, I think it's a great signing, a new signing for us, another new signing."

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Mathys Tel has sent a clear message to Roberto De Zerbi after the young Tottenham Hotspur forward scored a hat-trick for France under-21s on Tuesday night.

The Frenchman, who turned 21 this year, netted his second career treble in their 7-1 U21 EURO qualifier win over Switzerland. Tel, who captained the side, has had a very productive international break, scoring five goals in four games.

Tel scored France under-21s' only goal in the 1-1 draw away against Iceland and also netted the winner at home against Luxembourg to book his country's place at the Euros. He will now return to north London in a confident mood and is expected to meet up with his team-mates in the coming days.

Signed for £29.8million from Bayern Munich last summer after initially joining on loan in January 2025, Tel has been on the receiving end of his fair share of criticism already for his performances in a Spurs shirt. To be fair to the former Rennes man he was thrown into Premier League life at a time when Spurs were struggling both with injuries and their form, and he had to adapt to the fast and physical league as a target man with others out.

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Tel is yet to register a goal or an assist in six appearances for Tottenham this season and was left out of the matchday squad entirely for the 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa before the international break. De Zerbi revealed that it was a “technical decision” to leave him out but while Tel has frustrated, it seemed strange to not have him as a bench option.

The Italian boss has previously called on more from the young forward and the head coach could be seen airing his frustrations at Tel on the pitch after the goalless draw against Everton.

"Yes, I coached him on the pitch," De Zerbi said. "The body shape of a striker. The striker can play with the shoulder on the goal. If we are playing with [James] Maddison, [Mohammed] Kudus and Savio, he has to play as a striker, and the striker has to look at the goal, no?

"Or on the cross of Robertson. He has to stay inside because he started [his career] as a striker. Now he's playing as a winger, but he started in his career as a striker."

He added: "But I love Mathys as a player, as a guy. There is not a problem."

After an impressive international break, Tel will now turn his attention to club football yet again and hope he can return to the matchday squad for the trip to Manchester United on Saturday. He will have one or two training sessions with De Zerbi to try and persuade the Italian he has enough to be named in the travelling party and even in the starting XI.

Tel is Tottenham's most in-form forward at the moment, but whether De Zerbi uses him is a different question.

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Former Tottenham captain Son Heung-min, now with LAFC, is now South Korea's all-time record goalscorer at international level - a milestone that has long been in his crosshairs

Former Tottenham captain Son Heung-min showcased his vulnerable side after becoming South Korea's all-time leading international goalscorer after netting against Uzbekistan.

The crowning moment came inside just six minutes when Son's low free-kick somehow squirmed under the Uzbekistan goalkeeper - much to the delight of both his team-mates and the home crowd.

Former Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen striker Cha Bum-kun previously held the record with 58.

But Son has now carved his name into the history books, taking his tally to 59 goals from 151 outings (he is also the nation's most-capped player of all-time).

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Speaking after the game, Son told Korean TV: "First off, I feel a bit overwhelmed with emotion. Since I was young, I never took this position for granted, and I still do.

"Of course, I have had my teammates, coaches, and manager to help me score so many goals, but I believe it is thanks to the fans who cheered for me as if it were their own business.

"It is not just my goals that are precious to me; the 16 years we have spent together like this are precious.

"I don't know how much longer I have left, but I think the most important thing is to show a proud performance to the people and those who love football while playing with the South Korean national team jersey on my chest."

Son, now 34, first made his South Korea debut way back in December 2010 when he featured in a pre-Asia Games friendly against Syria.

He would go on to play at four different World Cups (2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026) and also won the Korean FA Player of the Year award eight times (2013, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024).

What's even more remarkable is that despite being a veteran of the game, Son managed to start all four of South Korea's matches during the current international break.

He captained the side in each of them as they faced Ecuador (3-0 win), Uruguay (4-1 defeat), Venezuela (0-0) and Uzbekistan (2-0 win), operating as both a centre-forward and left-winger.

Son admits it was tough but so worth it, adding: "The four matches were not easy. I think it was a very tough schedule, both physically and in terms of the timeline.

"Just playing four matches in Korea for the first time in a long while made me happy, and I think it was a really fun camp."

Son also addressed the fans after reaching the spectacular milestone, stating: "When the results weren't good, I felt down inside because I thought I might have disappointed the fans, but I want to say that I am so thankful for the happy two weeks, or at most three weeks, we were able to enjoy during these four matches.

"I hope you all wrap up the year well. We hope to greet you during our away matches in November. Please take care of your safety on your way home, and thank you so much for the four consecutive games."

When Tottenham released their squad photo for the 2026/27 season this month there was one face in the men's group that supporters could not put a name to.

Plenty of focus was on the fact that Richarlison was in the photo, despite not being named in Roberto De Zerbi's Premier League squad for the coming season. There was also just the one outfield academy player in the Spurs first team set-up with the now 18-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett taking his place on the back row.

The front row of the squad contained De Zerbi's captaincy group flanking him, in the shape of skipper Micky van de Ven, Pedro Porro, James Maddison, Ben Davies and Archie Gray.

Along with the 29 players making up the first team squad, around De Zerbi there were 10 members of the Italian's staff that work with him each week directly with the team.

There was assistant head coach Andrew Crofts, who arrived from Brighton in the summer to supplement the existing first team coaching staff from De Zerbi's first few months at the end of last season.

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Those included Marcattilio Marcattilii and Marcello Quinto, who arrived with their compatriot as fitness coach and senior professional development phase coach respectively. They joined a group that already contained assistant coaches Bruno Saltor and Andreas Georgson, individual development coach Cameron Campbell and head of goalkeeping Fabian Otte plus assistant first team goalkeeping coach Dean Brill.

Those eight coaches are all in the squad photo, along with Enrico Venturelli, a long-time De Zerbi colleague who football.london reported had joined up towards the end of last season as his translator on the training pitches and in his media work.

That left one member of staff at the top right of Tottenham's squad photo unaccounted for, wearing the initials "FC" on his training top, and that left some supporters trying to work out who it was.

Wonder no more as football.london has the answer. It is Francesco Calone, who has the official title at Spurs of technical development coordinator. The Italian left De Zerbi's boyhood club AC Milan after eight years at the Serie A side, working since 2024 as a first team match analyst.

Calone, who has earned various UEFA coaching badges, worked his way up from the Milan side's academy to assist their first team and left the Italian giants on the day that De Zerbi was announced as the new head coach of Tottenham. Now he is playing his part in the big Spurs rebuild.

Tottenham return to Premier League action this weekend with a trip to Old Trafford and both sides could be missing some players

The extended international break comes to a close with a big Premier League game for Tottenham Hotspur at Manchester United on Saturday.

Roberto De Zerbi and his players need to finally get their season up and running, having spent the three-week break rooted to the bottom of the Premier League table without a victory to their name in their opening five matches. Michael Carrick's United side have only won once so far and lie three points above the north London outfit in 12th.

Spurs will be heading to Old Trafford with a couple of international break concerns but also some potential returnees and the same is the case for their Manchester hosts.

With United doing the welcoming, let's start with their doubts. Carlos Baleba could be in line to make his debut after his £70million summer move from Brighton after returning from an ankle injury and featuring in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Lausanne-Sport on Friday.

Striker Benjamin Sesko felt shin pain after the Carabao Cup match against Brighton and withdrew from the Slovenia squad so he could be a doubt for Saturday.

Patrick Dorgu went on international duty with Denmark but came off after just half an hour of their game against Wales with a thigh problem. Noussair Mazraoui faced similar on Morocco duty with a back injury that forced him off.

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Carrick is awaiting the return of Matthijs de Ligt from his long-term back injury while Amad could make his return against Spurs if he has trained with the group as the United boss hoped and both Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford withdrew from the England squad but will be hoping to feature at the weekend.

Manuel Ugarte remains out with his knee ligament injury suffered at the World Cup while goalkeepers Karl Darlow and Tom Heaton have been out with injuries during this campaign.

When it comes to Tottenham, De Zerbi will provide an update on the latest injury news surrounding Micky van de Ven and Jan Paul van Hecke at his press conference on Friday. Both suffered injuries on duty with the Netherlands, the Spurs captain hurting his hand after it was accidentally stamped on and feeling dizzy with the pain while Van Hecke suffered a toe injury in the previous game that prevented him from kicking the ball.

This game might come too early for Pedro Porro after his hamstring issue while Mykhailo Mudryk has been recovering from his ankle injury suffered in training. Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons are working on their rehabilitation from cruciate ligament injuries but Dejan Kulusevski is closing in on a return from the complicated knee injury that has kept him out for more than 500 days.

In all there are a large number of doubts for both sides and there could yet be further with more international games still to be played before players return to London and Manchester.