• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Dejan Kulusevski

DubaiSpur said:
He's alright, tbh. I've watched plenty of both him and Bentancur (my opinion on him is in his thread) over the years.

Back when he was at Parma on loan, he was a weirdly dangerous player - the best way I can describe him.

Weirdly dangerous, because he didn't look like he was all that threatening - he had a tendency to stumble over the ball, look a bit ungainly, and struggle to control it in tight spaces. But, at the same time, he had an ability to cut inside from his nominal positions out on the wide-right and play a defence-splitting pass to an onrushing forward, or drop a shoulder and burn past a player with surprising agility.

Allied with his ability to defend, press and win the ball back high up, it made him a uniquely dangerous player for Parma's system, which was *very* based on lightning transitions from back to front with a minimum of passes and buildup.

At Juve, though, all those negatives (ungainliness, struggles with ball control when under pressure/in tight spaces, indecisiveness, etc.) came to the fore, and he never really showed that agility and inventiveness that marked him at Parma.

So, he's a bit of a weird jumble of attributes. I'd say the conditions he'll play in at Spurs are more similar to the ones Juve face than the ones Parma faced - packed defenses, high pressing and a need for intricacy. Which may not be to his benefit.

But at the same time, he's got so many things that make him potentially good in a Conte system - physicality, a hard worker, defending ability, speed over long distances (not acceleration, but pace, I suppose), and the ability to play those dangerous passes into space quickly.

You can see above the reason why I called him weirdly dangerous - those are not typical attributes for a right-winger (where he usually played), or a CAM (which is where I think his best position lies).

Paratici has loved him for a long time - brought him to Juve in a deal many called overpriced, and we are now buying him for more than what Juve paid for him after two disappointing seasons (staggering the payments with this weird loan-to-buy thing Paratici likes). It's clear he sees a lot in him.

But to me, he strikes me as uncannily similar to Alli - he will do well in a system tailored to his strengths, but otherwise, he's a struggle to fit into a side. But I suppose Conte will play him more than Alli, so it's a squad upgrade on the whole.
Click to expand...

I think adding that creativity to our front line could be a very good thing.

If he can play as the most attacking player in a three (either 3-4-1-2 or as the more attacking of the eights) that would also add something that's been missing. Other than Alli we don't really have a "really get forward and join the attack" option for the midfield three. And Alli hasn't been trusted/played.

Some of those shortcomings you mention will have to be improved upon if he's to really live up to how highly Paratici seems to rate him.
 
DubaiSpur said:
He's alright, tbh. I've watched plenty of both him and Bentancur (my opinion on him is in his thread) over the years.

Back when he was at Parma on loan, he was a weirdly dangerous player - the best way I can describe him.

Weirdly dangerous, because he didn't look like he was all that threatening - he had a tendency to stumble over the ball, look a bit ungainly, and struggle to control it in tight spaces. But, at the same time, he had an ability to cut inside from his nominal positions out on the wide-right and play a defence-splitting pass to an onrushing forward, or drop a shoulder and burn past a player with surprising agility.

Allied with his ability to defend, press and win the ball back high up, it made him a uniquely dangerous player for Parma's system, which was *very* based on lightning transitions from back to front with a minimum of passes and buildup.

At Juve, though, all those negatives (ungainliness, struggles with ball control when under pressure/in tight spaces, indecisiveness, etc.) came to the fore, and he never really showed that agility and inventiveness that marked him at Parma.

So, he's a bit of a weird jumble of attributes. I'd say the conditions he'll play in at Spurs are more similar to the ones Juve face than the ones Parma faced - packed defenses, high pressing and a need for intricacy. Which may not be to his benefit.

But at the same time, he's got so many things that make him potentially good in a Conte system - physicality, a hard worker, defending ability, speed over long distances (not acceleration, but pace, I suppose), and the ability to play those dangerous passes into space quickly.

You can see above the reason why I called him weirdly dangerous - those are not typical attributes for a right-winger (where he usually played), or a CAM (which is where I think his best position lies).

Paratici has loved him for a long time - brought him to Juve in a deal many called overpriced, and we are now buying him for more than what Juve paid for him after two disappointing seasons (staggering the payments with this weird loan-to-buy thing Paratici likes). It's clear he sees a lot in him.

But to me, he strikes me as uncannily similar to Alli - he will do well in a system tailored to his strengths, but otherwise, he's a struggle to fit into a side. But I suppose Conte will play him more than Alli, so it's a squad upgrade on the whole.
Click to expand...

we have probably overpaid a bit because of the position we’ve left ourselves in this window. We don’t have the time to haggle for a better deal.
 
SouthStand322 said:
we have probably overpaid a bit because of the position we’ve left ourselves in this window. We don’t have the time to haggle for a better deal.
Click to expand...

Said in the other thread. Bentancur 30% of the fee goes to boca. So we are overpaying on kulu and underpaying on bentancur so juve get more money overall.
 
braineclipse said:
I think adding that creativity to our front line could be a very good thing.

If he can play as the most attacking player in a three (either 3-4-1-2 or as the more attacking of the eights) that would also add something that's been missing. Other than Alli we don't really have a "really get forward and join the attack" option for the midfield three. And Alli hasn't been trusted/played.

Some of those shortcomings you mention will have to be improved upon if he's to really live up to how highly Paratici seems to rate him.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I also believe he's been played as a striker for Sweden - I don't watch much international footie, but my understanding is that he plays as a No.9 roaming around next to Isak.

If that is the case, worst comes to worst and we predictably finish yet another window without a Kane backup, we can throw him into the role. He's more physical than Bergwijn (even if he's weirdly weak in the air for someone of his size at 6'1).

If we had to trade him fot Bergwijn, I'd be a bit hesitant - I don't really rate Bergwijn as highly as some others do, but he offers about as much as Kulusevski would in that wing role alongside Kane/Son, imo. If he stays, that's a decent bunch of wing options (Son, Bergwijn, Lucas, Kulusevski) to see out the season, and we can reassess come summer.
 
Gutter Boy said:
Is it too early to start calling him 'Dejan The Great' (re him being Macedonian)?
Click to expand...

North macedonia now. The greeks wouldn't recognise the name macedonia (cause there is a region in greece where alexander was born, called macedonia, the city of pella was his birth place). They did a deal the other year.
 
billyiddo said:
They are good numbers before you even factor in the minutes played - interested to see how this signing plays out

If it happens*

Edit : hold on those numbers are skewed by youth football?
Click to expand...

Not quite sure how Surfless got to 65.

Looking at understat (only league games I think):
-xG90 0.21
-xA90 0.26

That's across all four seasons. It's good, not great imo. Bit less than half a goal involvement per 90 minutes played. (goals and assists quite close to expected numbers).

Good for a 21 year old arguably playing in a not fully firing team and perhaps in a style not fully suited to him.
 
I’ve got to say that I rate Kulusevski quite highly and think he will do well in the PL. He is a player that can play in a number of positions, is two footed, has good touch, works hard, is quite physical with good body strength and is good tactically. I am WAY more enthused about this signing than I was by our interest in Traore and I think Kulusevski is also a better fit for what we need than Diaz was. Loan deal seems to be well structured as well if the reports are true (low load fee and nice long loan length).

This is a sensible signing that improves our squad.
 
Finney Is Back said:
I’ve got to say that I rate Kulusevski quite highly and think he will do well in the PL. He is a player that can play in a number of positions, is two footed, has good touch, works hard, is quite physical with good body strength and is good tactically. I am WAY more enthused about this signing than I was by our interest in Traore and I think Kulusevski is also a better fit for what we need than Diaz was. Loan deal seems to be well structured as well if the reports are true (low load fee and nice long loan length).

This is a sensible signing that improves our squad.
Click to expand...
Two footed
Same as Bentacur
It’s a BIG thing for me
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back