Player Profile: Dejan Kulusevski
Name: Dejan Kulusevski
Nationality: Swedish
Position: RW/CAM
Age: 22
Dejan Kulusevski, affectionately known as ‘Deki’ (which is also what he will be referred to as for the remainder of this piece), is a winger/attacking midfielder currently playing for Spurs in the EPL. Although still on loan from Juventus, Spurs have an obligation to buy clause which can either be triggered in the January transfer window or will be automatically triggered come the summer.
Deki is an incredibly exciting and effective attacking player who Spurs have been playing off of the right-hand side this season. He thrives in this position and he loves to cut inside and get a shot or a pass away on his preferred left foot. Deki is tall for a winger at 6’1 and he uses this to his advantage as his strength makes him difficult for defenders to knock off of the ball, so more often than not he manages to wriggle away from the defence to create a chance. As much as Dekiloves to get a shot away, he equally loves to create chances for team mates, in 70 appearances as right winger Deki has scored 17 and assisted 20, a very impressive spread of numbers and shows how he can be both a goal threat and creator.
Deki first landed at Spurs on loan last January and made an immediate impact in an incredible run of form to end the season, helping Spurs to a 4th place finish and sealing that last Champions League spot;
These numbers are incredible for any winger, at any level, but these are the numbers of a winger’s first 6 months in a new league with a new team when he was only 21, wow! As I said previously, these numbers helped Spurs secure the 4th place spot in the EPL and included a goal and an assist in a famous 3–2 away at Man City.
This form has also carried on into the 22/23 season, unfortunately Deki has missed 8 league games so far this season and Spurs lost half of them, coincidence? I think not. Let’s look at his numbers for this season;
The assist numbers that Deki has provided at Spurs are incredible and a lot of this is due to his impressive passing range, from long switches to defence splitting passes, Deki can do it all. Averaging 2 key passes a game along with 82% pass accuracy proves this. He’s also an incredibly effective ball carrier and loves marauding down the right wing and is equally comfortable taking it to the by line or cutting inside, as shown from his season heat map;
This shows where Deki is most comfortable, taking players to the touchline over the half way line before cutting inside trying to create for either himself or others. Effective ball carriers who are tall, strong and very technically gifted are a rare sight and often described as ‘unicorns’ and I think Deki falls into this category. Also add to the fact that he backs up his ability with genuinely good numbers and there aren’t many clubs who wouldn’t love to have him on their team.
To show just how impressive the numbers put up from Deki really are, let’s compare him to Heung-min Son, a player widely regarded as one of the best in the world;
If you weren’t impressed already, I imagine you are now. Son is often hailed as ‘world class’ where Deki doesn’t get those type of phrases thrown at him. But it’s clear in the numbers that he can play at a level where he contributes as much as Son can. Albeit, this season hasn’t been Son’s most productive and I’m not saying Deki should be hailed as ‘world class’ right now, but I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say that if he continues performing the way he has been, he could be in that conversation very soon.
Spurs have a real gem on their hands and with all the abundance of positives mentioned above, I have to mention, again, that he is only 22 years old! The rumoured fee Spurs will have to pay to make this transfer permanent is €35m and I see that as an absolute bargain. A player worth way more already, in my eyes anyway, Spurs either have a player who will contribute for years to come or guaranteed profit on their hands, an absolute win of a transfer for the team behind this deal, well played.
