Tottenham: Dejan Kulusevski ‘happy’ under Ange Postecoglou despite snub v Nottingham Forest
Tottenham winger Dejan Kulusevski will be “happy” with his current role under Ange Postecoglou, despite losing his place to Brennan Johnson, according to Alan Hutton.
The Swedish international has enjoyed a mixed season in North London under the Australian, scoring six goals and laying on three assists for his teammates in 29 league games, but has found himself on the bench in both of Spurs’ last two matches.
Welsh winger Johnson has started ahead of the 23-year-old against West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, with some suggesting that a change of position may help Kulusevski force his way back into Postecoglou’s starting XI.
While Hutton has heaped praise on the former Juventus star’s versatility, he believes Kulusevski is best suited to the wide role and has tipped to only get even better once he starts playing week in and week out.
“I think out on the right, he does a really good job,” Hutton told Tottenham News.
“Just with his attributes and his pace, he can probably play in a number of positions. I think he could play either side out wide, he can probably play as a number 10 and he can play just off the striker, but I like him where he plays.
“He takes people on, gets in at the back post, creates opportunities, so I like him when he plays on that right-hand side.
“But it’s good to be versatile, only he’ll know exactly the position where he wants to play and he’s not going to come out and say it because the manager will be like ‘Is that right, unfortunately, you can’t play there at this moment in time.’
“I like where he is, I like what he does and he’s young so he will improve as the years go on. I think he’s just happy that he’s at a team like Tottenham and he’s playing really well.
“For him, the next progression is to constantly be in the team and number one on the teamsheet, playing every week and he can definitely do that within this team.”
Will Dejan Kulusevski leave Tottenham in the summer transfer window?
Postecoglou is blessed with some amazing attacking options currently at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and that means that somebody is always going to have to be left out of the starting XI, especially now that everyone is fully fit.
Unfortunately for Kulusevski, he has been the latest victim and that hasn’t been helped by Johnson’s excellent form in recent weeks. But any suggestions that he may be unhappy with that situation may have been exaggerated.
Some reports have suggested that Napoli are eager to bring the Swedish international back to the Serie A this summer [TuttoMercato, 2 April], however, it seems unlikely that either the 23-year-old or Spurs would be open to this deal.
In other Tottenham news, Chelsea are keen to balance their books and could sell Conor Gallagher amid interest from Spurs
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