Kulusevski Back in Tottenham Squad After 17 Months as Savio and Bergvall Join Injury List

Dejan Kulusevski will return to a Tottenham matchday squad for the first time in more than 500 days on Monday evening, named among the substitutes for the visit of Coventry City as the bottom-of-the-table side chase a first Premier League win of the season.

The Swedish midfielder has not played since suffering a serious knee injury in May 2025, a lay-off that cost him Tottenham's Europa League triumph, the whole of last season and this summer's World Cup. Head coach Roberto De Zerbi confirmed the medical staff have given the green light for the 26-year-old to rejoin the squad, saying the decision was about far more than football.

"Kulusevski (is) on the bench. We had a meeting with the medical staff. They gave the OK and it's great news," De Zerbi told reporters. "Deki, he suffered too much. He deserves to feel emotion on the pitch." The Italian admitted he had personally delivered the news to the player: "I said to him, 'I spoke with the medical staff and they gave me the OK' and he smiled like this."

Kulusevski's return is the one bright selection note in a battered availability list. Winger Savio and midfielder Lucas Bergvall will both miss the Coventry game through injury, while Rodrigo Bentancur serves a suspension, leaving De Zerbi with a threadbare core around which to rebuild a team that has taken a single point from its opening six matches.

Tottenham have spent much of the past week at a warm-weather training camp in Marbella, working on fitness and cohesion while the Premier League paused for the international window. Frank Lampard's Coventry arrive with nothing to fear from a side that has not yet found a win, and the stakes for the hosts are obvious: a first victory of the campaign at the eleventh attempt would lift the mood around a club whose season has been defined by the treatment room.

For Kulusevski himself, Monday night is a milestone rather than a comeback complete. More than 17 months after his last competitive appearance, the first minutes back on a Premier League pitch — even from the bench — will close one of the longest injury sagas of the season, and give De Zerbi the creative spine his injured list has denied him.