Dejan Kulusevski thought he would 'never play again' amid Tottenham injury hell

Dejan Kulusevski told his mother that he did not think he would be able to play again as he looked to recover from his long-term knee injury.

The Tottenham forward was out for over 18 months with a troublesome patella problem that he had picked up on the final day of the 2024-25 campaign against Crystal Palace.

The Swede had suffered an innocuous collision with Marc Guehi, now of Manchester City, and it resulted in him missing Spurs’ 1-0 triumph over Manchester United in the Europa League final in Bilbao.

Brennan Johnson’s winner was enough to hand the north Londoners their first trophy since the League Cup back in 2008.

Kulusevski branded that day in the Basque country as “one of the hardest days of my life”, as he recalled not being able to celebrate with his team-mates or even pick up his winners’ medal.

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In an interview he gave with Spurs’ official club media, the winger detailed the conversation he had with his mother about potentially calling time on his football career as a result of his persistent knee troubles.

“I told my mother, I sat with her and I told her 'listen, I don’t think this is going to work out',” he said.

“I had to prepare her, I don’t think I can play anymore.”

Kulusevski, who made his long-anticipated return to action in the 3-1 win over Coventry recently, recalled the challenge from Guehi that caused his long-term spell on the sidelines.

“I remember the game, it felt a great warm-up, and then I remember the hit after 10 minutes,” he continued.

“It was pain but it didn’t hurt that much, it has been much worse. I could feel that the knee was moving a little bit too much. I broke my cartilage, and the cartilage flew out and went to another part of the knee, and they can’t fix cartilage so In the scan they could see that a part of my cartilage was gone.”