Tottenham expect Dejan Kulusevski to still be a Spurs player next season, football.london understands, despite reports from Italy that the Sweden international will be returning to Juventus this summer. Signed on an 18-month loan from the Italian giants in January 2022 worth €10million (£8.7million), the deal Spurs struck with the Bianconeri contained two different agreements for the club to make the move permanent.
Kulusevski's deal would become permanent if certain sporting goals were achieved in the 2022/23 season, including qualification for Champions League football for the following campaign, with Spurs then having the option to sign him even if the agreed objectives were not met. In both cases, the deal is equal to €35million (£30.5million) which is payable over five financial years.
Given those reports of Kulusevski's move not becoming permanent and making a return to his parent club, football.london understands that Spurs were surprised at the reports emerging from Italy as there is an expectation that the player will be signed. A key player for the Lilywhites last campaign as he helped the team achieve a Champions League spot, the Swede has struggled to replicate the same form this time around after only managing two goals and seven assists in 34 appearances this term.
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Kulusevski knows his performances have not been good enough in recent months and he is determined to bounce back and hit top form for Tottenham once again.
“It’s been tough,” said the youngster in an interview with Tottenham's official website. “I was very disappointed with my performances in recent months, I learnt a lot. I still have a lot of growth to do and you can’t be too hard on yourself.
“This season, there’s been a lot of ups and downs, it’s been hard but I always have to perform no matter what the situation is. Other teams know how the team plays and about how I play, so we have to adapt, change things and find solutions to get better because it’s been difficult.
“Even if you win or lose, you have to just think about the process and not get too attached to results, keep doing what you can and always do the right things even if you lose. You have to accept it as a footballer, you can’t always win and play well but I’m feeling very good mentally and physically."
Amid Kulusevski's admission about his form and finding solutions with teams now fully aware of how he operates, football.london asked acting head coach Ryan Mason in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Aston Villa match about how Spurs get their attacker back to his best next season.
"I love Deki as a player. I think he's got so much room to grow and be a top, top player, even though he already is a top, top player," explained Mason. "At the same time when you play for a club like this I feel it's important that you feel you have to earn the shirt in every moment. Naturally when you play for a club like this there's competition.
"At the moment, last week, you could see he was on the bench but he came on and helped the team get the result. That's important because you need a full squad. The intensity of the Premier League and the demands are so much that it's bigger than just the 11 players who start the game on the pitch.
"You need people to come on and contribute. We saw that with Eric Dier as well the other day when Clem went off injured. He had to be ready for five minutes and he played an important role. So that's the message to all of our players. We value all of them, they've got an important role to play, albeit for three games at the end of the season, but I think it's an important message going forward."
When asked if he still expects Kulusevski to be at the club next season, Mason admitted that the "general feeling is that Deki is a Tottenham player".
"I'm not sure about that to be perfectly honest," he said. "The general feeling is that Deki is a Tottenham player so those conversations, like many other conversations about other players, will come at the end of the season."
Since joining Tottenham from Juventus, Kulusevski has contributed with seven goals and 15 assists in 54 games for the club.
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