Tottenham Hotspur have fresh injury concerns today after Sami Mokbel reported in the Daily Mail that Dejan Kulusevski has picked up a foot injury in training and will be out for an indeterminate period of time.
Deki posted a photograph on Instagram of him wearing a protective boot, and Mokbel writes that while the full extent of the injury won’t be known until at least tomorrow, Kulusevski will be sidelined for at minimum Thursday’s Europa League first leg match against AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, and the weekend match against Bournemouth.
This is, obviously, not great news, but it’s ameliorated a bit by the fact that Spurs are set to have Cuti Romero, Micky van de Ven, Richarlison, and Dominic Solanke back as soon as the AZ match or in the near future. And honestly, I’m a little surprised that Deki hasn’t broken down a bit sooner — he’s got a lot of miles on the tires already this season, and maybe it was too much to ask to have him skate through fortunately like Pedro Porro.
In truth though, if we were going to lose Deki for a period of big matches, this might be about the best time to do it. Brennan Johnson is likely Deki’s replacement in the side, and Johnson’s directness and back post runs might actually be a better fit against AZ than Deki’s close control in and around the box. Not that I’m happy he’s not available, but with Spurs edging closer to full fitness it’s not as dire an injury as it would’ve been, say, a month ago.
It’s also possible that Deki will be out longer than just two games; that protective boot isn’t a good look, but we won’t know anything until the physios have a chance to evaluate him.