Dejan Kulusevski: Spurs winger returns to training after 16 months

• Dejan Kulusevski has returned to first-team training at Tottenham Hotspur after 16 months out with a patella injury.
• He has had two operations on the knee, in May 2025 and March 2026, since being hurt against Crystal Palace.
• Spurs expect him to be back in the matchday squad once the international break ends.

Dejan Kulusevski: how the 16-month lay-off unfolded

The Dejan Kulusevski injury return has taken 16 months, two operations and one aborted comeback to reach this point.

He has not played for Tottenham since damaging his patella against Crystal Palace in May 2025.

At the time, then manager Ange Postecoglou called it a minor knock. Scans taken in the days that followed showed the full extent of the damage, and surgery followed soon after.

Kulusevski had his first operation on the patella that same month. A second procedure came in March 2026, after the knee failed to settle as hoped, stretching his absence well past the ten-month mark.

He returned to training on 31 August 2026, only for Spurs to pause the programme days later because of an adverse reaction to the workload.

Full details of that setback featured in our full report on Kulusevski’s training return.

Training has since resumed in full, and the wait for a competitive return is nearly over.

His absence has been felt keenly. Kulusevski offers movement between the lines and support from midfield that few other wide players in the squad provide, and Tottenham have missed that balance for a season and a half.

If he can prove his fitness, it will be like the proverbial new signing.

The expert angle: De Zerbi praises Kulusevski’s resilience

Roberto De Zerbi has spoken about what this recovery means beyond football. He has observed how Kulusevski has endured 16 months of surgery and rehabilitation without playing a single minute for the club.

De Zerbi made that point in comments published by Football.London, saying: “It’s great watching him during the season and also because he deserves it because he suffered too much for his career for his age, for his level of human.

“I’m not speaking of him as a player but as a human.”

That is a manager praising character rather than a footballer’s output.

It says something about the standing Kulusevski holds inside the Tottenham dressing room.

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