Tottenham's Dejan Kulusevski Returns After Long Injury Layoff

Tottenham’s long wait is almost over.

Dejan Kulusevski, the player who once dragged Spurs through a chaotic 2024/25 campaign, is finally back in full training after 19 brutal months on the sidelines with a serious right patella injury. Nineteen months that cost him a World Cup, his rhythm, and a sizeable chunk of his prime.

Now he is back on the grass with the senior squad, and the mood around Hotspur Way has shifted.

Kulusevski’s long road back

Tottenham supporters have had to live on memories with Kulusevski. Before his knee gave way, the Sweden international was the standout performer in a side lurching from crisis to crisis. When others faded, he kept demanding the ball, kept driving at defenders, kept Spurs afloat.

Then it all stopped.

The injury not only wiped out his 2025/26 season, it also robbed him of the chance to lead Sweden at the summer World Cup. For a player of his competitive streak, that kind of enforced exile cuts deep.

His rehabilitation has been anything but straightforward. A minor setback during an attempted return in August briefly raised fears of another extended absence. Instead, it sharpened the focus around his recovery. Sessions were adjusted, timelines reset, patience demanded.

Now, at 26, he is back training fully with the first team. No more individual work on the side pitches. No more isolation. For a Tottenham side still searching for their first league win and even their first goal of the season, his presence alone feels like a jolt of electricity.

Saturday’s clash with Aston Villa will come too soon for him. The staff will not rush a player this important, not after almost two years out. The internal target is a competitive return in October or November, once he has banked enough training minutes and the medical team are satisfied.

Roberto De Zerbi made it clear that the club will not gamble with him. The head coach spoke of the need to manage “Deki” carefully with the medical and physical staff, and his admiration for the winger’s quality and character after such a draining spell off the pitch. For De Zerbi, this is not just a good player coming back. It is someone who, in his words, “deserves to play again.”

Maddison fighting his own battle

Kulusevski is not the only creative pillar Spurs are trying to rebuild.

James Maddison has been locked in his own stop-start struggle. An ACL tear last August threatened to wipe out his season, yet he clawed his way back in time to help Tottenham avoid relegation. That late surge, playing through the pain barrier, underlined both his influence and his mentality.

The new campaign has not been kinder. Shoulder problems have disrupted his rhythm again, denying De Zerbi his most inventive central playmaker just when control and craft have been in short supply.

The tone from the manager on Maddison was cautiously optimistic. He confirmed the 29-year-old has been working with the team for the last 10 to 15 days, and stressed that even a player whose game is built on touch and vision still needs full physical sharpness to truly dictate matches. Maddison offers something no one else in this squad quite replicates: the ability to receive between the lines, turn in tight spaces and thread passes that break games open.

If Kulusevski is the direct runner and relentless presser, Maddison is the conductor. Getting them both fit at the same time would change the complexion of this side.

Pressure building, options returning

Tottenham head into the Villa game in a precarious position. Four Premier League matches, no wins, no goals. A midweek cup defeat to Liverpool only tightened the grip of anxiety around the club.

This is the early test of the De Zerbi era. The performances have lacked cutting edge, the squad has looked stretched, and the margins have been unforgiving. Yet the manager has stood firm in his message: keep composure, trust the work, and the results will follow.

At least the team sheet is starting to thicken out.

Pedro Porro and Sandro Tonali, both absent from that loss to Liverpool, are back in contention for the weekend. Their availability injects some much-needed depth and quality into a group that has been patched together in recent weeks. Porro’s energy and delivery from wide areas, Tonali’s range of passing and control in midfield – these are not luxury pieces, they are structural ones.

De Zerbi confirmed that Porro, Tonali and Maddison are all in the frame for selection against Villa. Suddenly, the bench will not look quite so raw.

The real game-changer, though, may still be a few weeks away. When Kulusevski finally pulls on the shirt again in a competitive fixture, it will not just be the return of a winger. It will be the return of a reference point, a player around whom Spurs once built their attacks and their belief.

Tottenham’s season has started in a fog. The question now is simple: with their creators limping back into the frame, how quickly can they turn the lights back on?