Kulusevski feared his career was over during Tottenham injury ordeal

The Tottenham forward spent more than 18 months recovering from a serious patella injury sustained against Crystal Palace on the final day of the 2024-25 season. The problem began after a collision with Marc Guehi, now at Manchester City, and ultimately forced him to miss Tottenham’s Europa League final victory over Manchester United in Bilbao.

“I told my mother, I sat with her and I told her 'listen, I don’t think this is going to work out',” Kulusevski said in an interview with the club.

“I had to prepare her, I don’t think I can play anymore.”

The injury initially appeared less serious than it would become. Kulusevski recalled feeling discomfort after the collision but not immediately understanding the extent of the damage.

“I remember the game, it felt a great warm-up, and then I remember the hit after 10 minutes,” he said.

“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.”

The consequences meant he was unable to join his team-mates for one of the most important days in the club’s recent history. Tottenham beat United 1-0 through Brennan Johnson’s goal, securing their first trophy since the 2008 League Cup and their first European crown.

For Kulusevski, however, the occasion was painful. He travelled to Bilbao on crutches and could not properly celebrate with the squad or even collect his winners’ medal.

“That was one of the hardest days in my life, I think,” he said.

“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].”

The isolation continued after the final, when he was unable to travel home with the team.

“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.”

After 526 days away, Kulusevski finally returned as a substitute in Tottenham’s 3-1 victory over Coventry. He also made a late appearance in the 2-0 win against Chelsea, beginning the process of working his way back into Roberto De Zerbi’s plans.

His return brings an end to an ordeal that had left him questioning whether his playing career could continue, after a period in which even the prospect of walking normally had become difficult.