Tottenham winger Dejan Kulusevski missed the entirety of last season with a devastating injury, and he has now opened up on just how serious the problem was

Tottenham star Dejan Kulusevski has admitted his injury was so bad that it made him consider retirement. The former Juventus man was injured on the final day of the 2024-25 campaign after a collision with Marc Guehi.

Kulusevski consequently missed the entirety of last season as he attempted to recover. He has only just returned to contention for Spurs, having recently made brief cameos against both Coventry and Chelsea.

Discussing his layoff with Spurs official website, Kulusevski has admitted that he discussed potentially hanging up his boots in a conversation with his mum.

He said: “I told my mother, I sat with her and I told her, ’Listen, I don’t think this is going to work out’. I had to prepare her, ’I don’t think I can play anymore’.”

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On the day he picked up the injury, Kulusevski added: “I remember the game, it felt a great warm-up, and then I remember the hit after 10 minutes.

“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.”

One of the games that Kulusevski was forced to miss was the 2025 Europa League final where Spurs beat Premier League rivals Manchester United to end their lengthy trophy drought.

And while Kulusevski was delighted to see the side finally claim a trophy, the actual moment itself was bittersweet. He said: “That was one of the hardest days in my life, I think.

“It was so beautiful to see all the people happy, but it was very difficult for me, going there with crutches, can’t walk. I couldn’t even take my medal because it was too slippery to go on that thing [the podium].

“Things like this was not nice but I accepted it and I came back to Barcelona and I had to stay there because I couldn’t travel with the flight back so seeing the team celebrating on the bus, that was probably the most difficult part of all this journey, because you feel so alone in this time.”

Kulusevski could build his fitness even further this weekend as Spurs aim to make it three wins in a row against Leeds.