Conte’s favoured winger
Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte will undoubtedly be sweating ahead of Saturday’s North London derby against Arsenal, due to a last-minute injury to one of his key players. According to Football London, Spurs winger Dejan Kulusevski returned from international duty with Sweden “feeling tightness in his hamstring” and will likely miss the return of the Premier League campaign.
Kulusevski, who has a current market value of €50 million, has been a pleasant surprise since making the move to London in the January transfer window, when he completed a loan move from Juventus. In the second half of last season, the Swedish winger bagged an impressive five goals and eight assists in 18 games in the English top flight and had started this season in similarly impressive form.
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Indeed, for club and country to date, Kulusevski has managed to pick up two goals and six assists in just 14 appearances and the 22-year-old talent has clearly won the trust of Conte, having started in all but two of the club’s Premier League games to date this season. As such, Saturday’s omission in a vital clash with table toppers Arsenal may prove to be a bitter pill for the Spurs manager and his squad to swallow.
However, as much as Spurs may miss Kulusevksi on Saturday, a temporary injury is unlikely to dampen the club’s spirits with their on-loan talent and according to new reports, the London club are intent on making sure the Sweden international joins the club on a permanent deal. Sports journalist Fabrizio Romano revealed on Wednesday that the English club would sign the winger at the end of the season if he played 20 Premier League and Spurs qualified for next season’s Champions League.
According to Romano, Spurs have a set-price already agreed with Juventus which stands at €35m. Which is not only considerably lower than the player’s current market value of €50m but also no more than what the Serie A giants paid for the winger back in January 2020, when they signed him from Atalanta. In this case, it seems as though Spurs will be more than happy to take a player that never really worked out at the Turin club off Juventus’ hands.
Tottenham winger Dejan Kulusevski has reportedly picked up a knock ahead of this weekend’s North London derby against Arsenal pic.twitter.com/Ur7dytH4D5
— Transfermarkt.co.uk (@TMuk_news) September 29, 2022
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