Count your blessings
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Dejan Kulusevski
- Thread starter superspurs
- Start date
Count your blessings
metalgear
Barry Daines
his type of surgery - unlike keyhole for ACLs - probably requires a tourniquet around his thigh as a preventative measure (just in case they sever a major blood vessel). this has the effect of disabling the finer ends of the nervous system in the leg. My post-op physio mentioned up to 30-40% muscle memory loss, for up to an hour of surgery.
don't have to relearn walking and running, but first touch and instinctive turns and dribbling - skills that kulu thrives on will be affected. he will have to relearn or reactivate them.
There's a lot of assumptions there. Without any of us knowing the details of his surgery or being even qualified to have any idea of the outcome of his surgery I think guessing should be left aside and just wait to see how he comes back. Makes zero sense to just write off a top player because he might not come back at 100% with no evidence either way.
K.D.D.D.D.Soc
Nayim
No guarantees with knee surgery, I've known family and friends have mixed results and 2 surgeons have confirmed my concerns, it's why I won't have replacement op.
metalgear
Barry Daines
you may not have seen this
said he should be on the field by November and then recently had to have another surgery
no videos of him strength training his legs or kicking a ball so far. last match was May 2025.
at this rate maddison will be featuring in a match sooner, a testament to how advanced ACL surgeries have become.
Gutter Boy
Tim Sherwood
ACLs have always been 6 month recoveries, going back to the late 80s when they first came in. If anything the last two we've seen (Bentancur and Dragusin) have taken longer (9 months) and had less successful outcomes (some notable performance decline) than normal
SteveAWOL
Steve Sedgley
Perhaps he overdid it in February which is why he had to undergo the 2nd surgical procedure in March.
Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski insists his ‘knee is great now’ after second surgery
Two weeks ago, Kulusevski had a minor surgical intervention to clean up the knee that has left him unable to play since May 2025.
www.nytimes.com
SteveAWOL
Steve Sedgley
Sounds like touch and go whether Deki will be fit in time for the World Cup… shall always be grateful for him carrying our team during first half of last season so that we picked up enough PL points to avoid relegation 
www.standard.co.uk
De Zerbi reveals Kulusevski hope amid Tottenham injury nightmare
Midfielder approaching a year out with a knee injury
www.standard.co.uk
Transylvanian
Rory Allen
Absolutely. Even if he is greenlit by the Swedish medical team, by the time the World Cup starts in June he hasn't been playing for over a year.
NaijaSpurs
Cecil Poynton
Hopefully both he and Maddison will be fit enough to lead us to the Championship title next season 
Zavod 311
Kevin-Prince Boateng
high chance because nobody will buy him until he proves himself... by that time we'll be well on our way to the prom so he'll prob just stayHopefully both he and Maddison will be fit enough to lead us to the Championship title next season
Last edited:
spursfan1976
Carlo Cudicini
Interesting thread on X from a physio -
and for those without the desire to trawl X, here's what she says -
Dejan Kulusevski. A thread on why he's been missing a year. What we can piece together for what this 'it's just a knock' was, why he needed a 2nd surgery and his 'small intervention' lead to him limping around in Sweden. R9 connection, and when he will most likely return.
My own background, I've studied sports science, physiotherapy and biomechanics since I was 14. I recently was hired as an assistant physio to an EFL club in league two. However I am not knower of all things. This based on his public injury record and my own knowledge.
Dejan is one of my favourite spurs players, so this was something I've been wanting to look into for a while and it was interesting to dive into. First things first, what exactly was the injury? We all know it's just a knock and he will be back for Bilbao. But what type of knock?
So before I say what it is, we have to understand a part of the knees extensor mechanism (how it straightens) and how it works. The patella (the kneecap) sits slightly in front of the knee and pushes the tendon, this multiples the leverage generated that straightens the leg.
Now, the collision with Guehi is what caused the injury. We know that there was structural damage. We know his kneecap was the victim. But Spurs never released the official diagnosis, but did say the surgery was on the pateller tendon, also damage to the cartilage and bone plate.
I am going to be a huge smart ass and using the information available to us, say it was a osteochondral break, with a partial patellar tendon tear. Now. What does this mean?
In simple terms. Imagine a chocolate shell covered peanut (stay with me). The peanut inside is the bone and the shell is the cartilage, when the collision happened. The peanut got chipped and the shell cracked. So whilst his knee didn't snap it did create a hole.
Why did I bring up Ronaldo? Because when doing research into the injury. Ronaldos famous Patellar tendon rupture was mentioned multiple times by reports and fans, for those that don't know, this is perhaps the most brutal rupture of this type we have ever seen in the sport.
His quad casued the tendon to snap completely in half, which pulled his kneecap all the way to his thigh. I've seen people sugget it might be as bad, this injury was the start of the downfall for R9, so I understand the fear from Spurs fans.
However I do not believe it to be as bad, primarily because the collision itself doesn't look as bad but also, Kulu and reports have come out and confirmed the point, however comparisons can still be drawn due to the similarity of the two.
So why is he taking so long to come back? He had the surgery just days later. The normal timeline for a torn patellar tendon or a chipped bone is 6 to 9 months. Yet here we are 12 months later. It's because he suffered both at the same time and both require the opposite to heal.
Let me explain, when a tendon is torn, you need to keep it in a brace to allow it to heal. When the bone or cartilage is hurt. You need to move the knee to get the nutrients to heal it due to a lack of blood supply. See the problem?
Because they needed to heal the tendon first, the cartilage and bone have had no love at all. This lead to the body creating a large supply of scar tissue as it panics to 'heal' the injury. perfectly managed, he could have been back on the grass by the 10 month mark.
However, we are talking about Spurs here lads. So it wasn't. When your body takes a year to recover from surgery, it does a sloppy and messy job. Scar tissue and broken bone start to form in the knee fluid and it hurts like a BITCH.
So this mystery 'Small Intervention' wasn't a failure of healing from the original surgery. But the body failing to keep it clean. This 2nd surgery is called 'Arthroscopic Debridement'. Basically. It was cleaning up the scar tissue and fragments of bone.
This is why Kulu said he felt 'great' on Instagram (I think it was Instagram. I can't remember) post 2nd surgery. The first surgery did it's job. But the leftover has been killing his movements for months. It was probably a great feeling.
So when will he be back? Well looking at reports, he wants to return for the World Cup. All I have to say to that is. Please don't Dejan. I know it means a lot, but his body is just not going to be ready. The trauma and lack of fitness is going to be huge.
If he does go. He has to play very strict limited mintues. I'm talking 15 max. Anything more is a huge risk. Especially playing in the US in the heat and on those types of pitches.
Will this have a long term impact? Unfortunately. As you may have clocked. When your comparing someone to R9 for their injury. It's not a positive sign. He's taken years of damage in just one collision.
Additonally the mental side. This is very similar to an ACL or Achilles in the long term impact it may have. He will have to learn to trust his body all over again. He will also have a very large amount of scar tissue in the knee, effecting his pace.
Overall it's not pretty. However I will say, it is not an impossible injury to come back from with the right support, it's a real shame that the 2nd surgery was necessary however, I do have some empathy for the spurs medical team here.
This isn't a regular injury. It's very difficult to manage and get right, and to be honest, they might have gotten it right. A double injury is always a nightmare to manage and as perfect as you can be, it still might not be enough.
Hope you enjoyed reading all this. Again sorry for any mistakes in spelling or anything. I do try my best but I'm awful at spelling. Any questions and I will happily respond
and for those without the desire to trawl X, here's what she says -
Dejan Kulusevski. A thread on why he's been missing a year. What we can piece together for what this 'it's just a knock' was, why he needed a 2nd surgery and his 'small intervention' lead to him limping around in Sweden. R9 connection, and when he will most likely return.
My own background, I've studied sports science, physiotherapy and biomechanics since I was 14. I recently was hired as an assistant physio to an EFL club in league two. However I am not knower of all things. This based on his public injury record and my own knowledge.
Dejan is one of my favourite spurs players, so this was something I've been wanting to look into for a while and it was interesting to dive into. First things first, what exactly was the injury? We all know it's just a knock and he will be back for Bilbao. But what type of knock?
So before I say what it is, we have to understand a part of the knees extensor mechanism (how it straightens) and how it works. The patella (the kneecap) sits slightly in front of the knee and pushes the tendon, this multiples the leverage generated that straightens the leg.
Now, the collision with Guehi is what caused the injury. We know that there was structural damage. We know his kneecap was the victim. But Spurs never released the official diagnosis, but did say the surgery was on the pateller tendon, also damage to the cartilage and bone plate.
I am going to be a huge smart ass and using the information available to us, say it was a osteochondral break, with a partial patellar tendon tear. Now. What does this mean?
In simple terms. Imagine a chocolate shell covered peanut (stay with me). The peanut inside is the bone and the shell is the cartilage, when the collision happened. The peanut got chipped and the shell cracked. So whilst his knee didn't snap it did create a hole.
Why did I bring up Ronaldo? Because when doing research into the injury. Ronaldos famous Patellar tendon rupture was mentioned multiple times by reports and fans, for those that don't know, this is perhaps the most brutal rupture of this type we have ever seen in the sport.
His quad casued the tendon to snap completely in half, which pulled his kneecap all the way to his thigh. I've seen people sugget it might be as bad, this injury was the start of the downfall for R9, so I understand the fear from Spurs fans.
However I do not believe it to be as bad, primarily because the collision itself doesn't look as bad but also, Kulu and reports have come out and confirmed the point, however comparisons can still be drawn due to the similarity of the two.
So why is he taking so long to come back? He had the surgery just days later. The normal timeline for a torn patellar tendon or a chipped bone is 6 to 9 months. Yet here we are 12 months later. It's because he suffered both at the same time and both require the opposite to heal.
Let me explain, when a tendon is torn, you need to keep it in a brace to allow it to heal. When the bone or cartilage is hurt. You need to move the knee to get the nutrients to heal it due to a lack of blood supply. See the problem?
Because they needed to heal the tendon first, the cartilage and bone have had no love at all. This lead to the body creating a large supply of scar tissue as it panics to 'heal' the injury. perfectly managed, he could have been back on the grass by the 10 month mark.
However, we are talking about Spurs here lads. So it wasn't. When your body takes a year to recover from surgery, it does a sloppy and messy job. Scar tissue and broken bone start to form in the knee fluid and it hurts like a BITCH.
So this mystery 'Small Intervention' wasn't a failure of healing from the original surgery. But the body failing to keep it clean. This 2nd surgery is called 'Arthroscopic Debridement'. Basically. It was cleaning up the scar tissue and fragments of bone.
This is why Kulu said he felt 'great' on Instagram (I think it was Instagram. I can't remember) post 2nd surgery. The first surgery did it's job. But the leftover has been killing his movements for months. It was probably a great feeling.
So when will he be back? Well looking at reports, he wants to return for the World Cup. All I have to say to that is. Please don't Dejan. I know it means a lot, but his body is just not going to be ready. The trauma and lack of fitness is going to be huge.
If he does go. He has to play very strict limited mintues. I'm talking 15 max. Anything more is a huge risk. Especially playing in the US in the heat and on those types of pitches.
Will this have a long term impact? Unfortunately. As you may have clocked. When your comparing someone to R9 for their injury. It's not a positive sign. He's taken years of damage in just one collision.
Additonally the mental side. This is very similar to an ACL or Achilles in the long term impact it may have. He will have to learn to trust his body all over again. He will also have a very large amount of scar tissue in the knee, effecting his pace.
Overall it's not pretty. However I will say, it is not an impossible injury to come back from with the right support, it's a real shame that the 2nd surgery was necessary however, I do have some empathy for the spurs medical team here.
This isn't a regular injury. It's very difficult to manage and get right, and to be honest, they might have gotten it right. A double injury is always a nightmare to manage and as perfect as you can be, it still might not be enough.
Hope you enjoyed reading all this. Again sorry for any mistakes in spelling or anything. I do try my best but I'm awful at spelling. Any questions and I will happily respond
tommysvr
Pat van den Hauwe
Stopped reading there
Ace Face
Nicola Berti
Tbf that is by far the best explanation of what the issue could have been. Seems to align with the need for the second surgery and timeline too but take with a pinch of salt for sure.
tommysvr
Pat van den Hauwe
He might be close but this obsession with outside-in scrutiny to this level just creates negativity in my opinion, because more often than not the analysis misses vital information. I mean how could it not? But by the time anyone realises, the narrative has already bolted. Like the "injuries are Ange's fault" thing.
(cue "this is a forum for discussion!")
Ace Face
Nicola Berti
Not arguing any of that. Just saying the piece offered more possible insight than anything else we’ve been offered.
I have zero medical training, as I expect 99% of this board does, so cannot comment on the details of the piece, but to me it felt genuine and not a plea for attention.
Treat it like you would a piece of ITK…