A position change has rejuvenated Dejan Kulusevski

Today’s newsletter is a guest piece from Mohamed Mohamed (@moesquare on bsky) on Dejan Kulusevski’s evolution into a full-time central midfielder.

He’s been writing about football in the public sphere for nearly a decade for various outlets, including The Analyst, The Athletic, and StatsBomb. As well, he’s dipped his toes into the world of YouTube with the channel Footy Insights, which looks into the present and past of the beautiful game.

Previously, Moe wrote here about tall strikers on the road to stardom.

When Dejan Kulusevski was signed by Tottenham in January 2022, it was a move seen for the present and future. He’d be the final piece to complement Harry Kane and Son Heung-min in the present, giving Spurs a jolt of quality as the club were looking to get back into the Champions League. There was initial success as his 13 combined goals and assists in the second half of the 2021-22 Premier League season helped propel the club to the final CL spot. The long-term hope was that given his age at the time of the transfer (21), along with his previous production with Juventus, he could be a core player for many years to come.

The following two seasons under both Antonio Conte and Ange Postecoglou were more of the stop-start variety. Replicating what he did in 2021-22 was unrealistic given the overperformance he showed compared to his underlying numbers, and some of the physical limitations as a primarily touchline winger became more apparent during Postecoglou’s first season as manager. With the acquisitions of Brennan Johnson and Wilson Odobert in consecutive summer windows, it was tougher to see where Kulusevski would get consistent minutes.

The early results in 2024-25 have been fascinating, in large part because Kulusevski’s positioning has been tweaked compared to previous seasons. Instead of mostly providing width with some license to drift inwards, he’s spent more time so far operating between the lines during buildup and settled possession in the opposition half. It’s common to see him take up these positions, looking for pockets of space to turn into and quicken the tempo.

The positional tweak has helped amplify certain parts of Kulusevski’s skillset, including his off-ball movement, where at times it’s been quite dynamic. In moments where Dominic Solanke drops deeper from pinning the opposition back, it allows Kulusevski to attack the space in behind. This also lends itself to situations where he’ll constantly be on his toes waiting to attempt to sprint in behind as the third man on the blindside of his marker during combination sequences. Occasionally, he’ll sprinkle in an underlapping run into the wide zone of the box to set up possible cut-back opportunities, although he could maybe be a bit more aggressive in seeking out those opportunities. As well, he provides an extra target in the box when Spurs are pinning the opposition in their own third.

Aggressive would be an appropriate way of describing Kulusevski’s carrying abilities. This is the case either out wide or in the halfspace, as well as situations where he moves from the channel towards the flank during buildup. At times, he can let the ball roll past him through the middle and use that momentum to get an initial advantage, also from throw-ins too. Although not an elite foul drawer, he’s been above average this season in the 62nd percentile among midfielders according to FBref at 1.47 per 90. That is the highest rate so far in his career, although it’s in less than 1000 minutes so far this season so the sample size is not grand. The same could be said in the opposite direction about his 31.6% successful take-on%, which would be by far the worst of his career.

Moving more inwards with his position has also helped solidify Kulusevski’s creative chops, which makes sense given he’s got more passing angles to work with compared to on the flank. On a per 90 basis, he’s at career highs in shot creating actions, passes into the box, and expected assist goals. The directness of his forward passing helps complement James Maddison on the opposite half space, who is much more of a conductor. Kulusevski constantly looks for those home-run passes in behind or setting up potential second assists with passes into the wide zone of the box. This also shows itself with him during potential transitions once Spurs win the ball back, where he’s comfortable attempting those outlet passes to spring forwards into advantageous situations. When he’s not doing that, he can help combine with quick flicks and backheels during combination plays. The assist to Brennan Johnson in their victory against Aston Villa showed the kind of quick hitting playmaking you’d expect from an upper tier central midfielder.

Given the robust nature of Kulusevski’s game, it made the transition a bit easier in handling the interior defensive responsibilities of a high octane press. Spurs matches regularly involve him putting in a defensive shift. You’ll see him try and have a zone/hybrid role defensively when trying to negate opposition buildup, and does okay in using his cover shadow to play the passing lanes for deflections. There are moments where some of the deficiencies in his athleticism hinders him in counterpressing situations. At times though, he can play a crucial part in generating high turnovers which Spurs’ press has been creating loads of this season.

An example of what Kulusevski could provide out of possession in this role comes from their first goal in a 3-1 victory vs Brentford. His curved pressing run helps create a high turnover near Brentford’s own box and leads to an eventual tap-in from Solanke.

Tottenham are in an interesting spot this season. The macro underlying numbers have been of the quality you’d expect from a club chasing CL qualification, and despite being in 10th, they’re only 3 points behind 3rd place as they’re only a 4 point gap between 3rd and 13th. At 11v11, and especially at an even game state, they’ve not been able to turn their territorial dominance into more clear-cut shots and goals. It’s also fair to point out that their schedule has been easier than others, which puts a further dent in the glass half full argument concerning Spurs’ top 4 chances.

But there’s still enough to suggest that Tottenham’s project is on an upward trajectory, despite the bumps sustained along the way. The cumulative talent level of the squad is one which could put together a spirited chase towards the top 4, as well as going far in the Europa League. For those things to happen, Dejan Kulusevski will have to continue playing at the level he’s flashed this season. The combination of spirited off-ball movement and aggressive pass selection brings an added dimension to Spurs’ attack, and the tweak in positioning makes him one of the most intriguing players of the 2024-25 Premier League season.

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