Tottenham Hotspur missed out on Luis Diaz to Liverpool in January. They pivoted to Dejan Kulusevski, and now appear to have found a new hero.
Tottenham have been here before; doing all the groundwork for a new signing before seeing a Premier League rival swoop in at the last minute.
Think Willian in 2013, ditching Tottenham at the 11th hour to sign for Chelsea instead. Diaz leaving Porto for Liverpool felt very similar.
Fabio Paratici had to salvage the January window. Unsurprisingly, he called up his old club Juventus and sorted out two signings.
Rodrigo Bentancur has made a real impact in midfield whilst winger Dejan Kulusevski already appears to be on a path to becoming a hero at Tottenham.
The Swedish winger joined Tottenham on loan with a view to a permanent deal which will surely be activated this summer.
Paratici had signed Kulusevski for Juventus, beating Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan to his signature; a move to Tottenham ultimately made perfect sense.
Kulusevski has quickly become a key man for Conte and almost undroppable just weeks into his Tottenham career.
His early goal against Manchester City has set the tone for Kulusevski’s Tottenham career. A beautiful goal against Leeds United only added to that.
On Monday night, Kulusevski wasn’t on the scoresheet in Tottenham’s 5-0 win over Everton but his impact was vital.
For Tottenham’s second goal, Kulusevski weighted what appeared to be an easy pass perfectly, right into Son Heung-min’s stride before he fired home.
Kulusevski added another assist in the second half, picking out Sergio Reguilon for a simple goal. With a first-time pass when others may have tried to cut back inside, Kulusevski caught the Everton defence off balance and teed up the goal.
Kulusevski’s balance and decision making just seems to be almost perfect, and the scary part is that he is only 21; there is just so much more to come.
With great work ethic and a wand of a left foot that provides great balance to the Tottenham attack, Kulusevski has been outstanding.
The one downside you could throw at Kulusevski is that he isn’t exactly blessed with pace. That’s not to say that Kulusevski is slow, but just not an absolutely blazing wide man.
That’s what makes a comparison to Mohamed Salah – offered up by Kulusevski’s former Parma boss Roberto D’Aversa – seem a tad bizarre, as Kulusevski doesn’t have the same speed as the Egyptian.
Kulusevski doesn’t need to be the new Salah though; he just needs to keep being Dejan Kulusevski.
No matter how fast he runs, Kulusevski is so smart, so creative, so exciting that Tottenham may have just found a winger they can love just like Liverpool fans love Salah.
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