Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi gives update on Dejan Kulusevski and it should bring cheer to Spurs fans

Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi provides an injury update on Dejan Kulusevski.

Roberto De Zerbi has given Tottenham supporters their most positive Kulusevski update in over a year, describing the winger as “fit and right” and calling him “one of the best players we have in the squad” while stopping short of naming an actual return date. [h/t Football London]

“Kulusevski fit and right, he’s one of the best players we have in the squad,”

“I wouldn’t like to put too much pressure on him to accelerate the process of rehab but I hope he can be available as early as possible.”

It has been a genuinely difficult year to watch play out. He has not played a competitive match since suffering a serious knee injury in a challenge with Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi in May 2025, an absence that required surgery on his patella and cost him the entirety of last season as well as a place at this summer’s World Cup with Sweden.

Slow and steady!

NT manager Graham Potter offered his own updates along the way, at one point saying he hoped to see Kulusevski back around Christmas, only for the timeline to slip further.

The rehabilitation has been long and, at times, painfully slow to track from the outside, marked by scattered updates, footage of him doing individual ball work and shooting drills, and even a video of him playing basketball as part of his conditioning work.

Through all of it, Tottenham have come across as consistent in refusing to attach a hard deadline to his return, prioritising a fully fit player over rushing it. That is a stance De Zerbi has repeated almost word for word in every update he has given. That patience is precisely why this latest update carries more weight than it might otherwise.

Tottenham have covered his absence reasonably well through Mohammed Kudus and Mathys Tel, both of whom have had their moments out wide, so there is no desperate need to rush him back before he is ready.

A fully fit Kulusevski, whenever he arrives, effectively represents one of the best signings Tottenham could make this summer without spending a single pound, and this is the clearest sign yet that his return might finally be measured in weeks rather than months.