An innocuous injury at the end of the 2024-25 season turned into an injury nightmare, with surgery unable to fix a patella issue and following injections midway through last season, a second procedure finally got the playmaker on the road to recovery.

The Sweden international finally stepped up his comeback this summer and after a continuous block of training over the last month, Roberto De Zerbi unleashed the forward during the final minutes of Spurs’ hard-fought Premier League victory.

After Kulusevski received huge applause when he warmed up for the first time in the 37th minute, even louder cheers followed when he got the nod from De Zerbi late on.

Thunderous noise greeted his entrance on to the pitch even before the stadium announcer had the chance to read out his name and two simple passes were given the same treatment.

Kulusevski looked like he had never been away when he put the afterburners on to race away before his left-footed cross failed to find a team-mate, but it failed to matter as the full-time whistle followed and Tottenham’s number 21 toasted three points on his eagerly-anticipated return.