Matthew Chadder

Fri 22 December 2023 18:10, UK

It is incredible to think that Tottenham star Dejan Kulusevski is still only 23 years old.

Ever since he arrived in north London, Kulusevski has been a key player at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

He was a favourite of ex-manager Antonio Conte and if anything has only become more important to the club since the arrival of Ange Postecoglou.

His maturity, work rate and attitude on the pitch make it easy to forget that he is still a very young player who has plenty of room to develop and grow, something that his manager recently reiterated.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of the visit of Everton in the Premier League on Saturday 23 December, Postecoglou was asked if supporters had yet seen the best of Kulusevski, a question to which the Australian responded rather decisively.

“I hope not, I think there’s more to come with Deki, he’s still fairly young age-wise as well. I’ve been really pleased with him because he’s played a number of positions for us,” (Football London, 22 December).

Postecoglou continued: “He’s such a hard worker that wherever you put him you know you’re going to get some output, irrespective of the position.

“But there is, there’s more to come and he’s a willing participant in that – he really works hard at his game, we’ve asked him to be more of a goal threat this year and he’s definitely doing that, he’s getting into those positions more and that shows me he still wants to improve and I’m sure he will.”

It is hard to disagree with the 58-year-old, as the Swede has certainly been producing in his recent displays in a Spurs shirt.

He had arguably one of his best games since joining the club during the 4-1 home win against Newcastle United on Sunday 10 December. As per Sofascore, Kulusevski completed 90 per cent of the passes he attempted, with an incredible five of those being key. In addition to this, he created two big chances and was accurate with the one cross and one long ball that he attempted.

Throughout the game against the Magpies, he played in the number 10 role just behind Richarlison, and while he started in that position in the 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest on Friday 15 December, he was forced to move out wide after Brennan Johnson left the pitch injured.

Nonetheless, as Postecoglou pointed out, being asked to play in a different position had no impact on the former Juventus man, who arguably had an even better game than he did against Newcastle.

In addition to his goal and assist for Richarlison’s opener, the forward completed 92 per cent of his passes, with three of those being key, and completed two of his three dribbles, with one of those coming in the build-up to his goal which doubled Spurs’ lead.

Stats by fbref suggest that Kulusevski has been performing all season, not just across the past two matches. He ranks in the top five per cent of his positional peers in the Premier League during the 2023/24 campaign for the number of touches he has made in the opposition penalty area (8.28 per 90), while also sitting in the top 11 per cent for the number of progressive passes he has received (12.03 per 90).

Kulusevski often picks up bright positions and likes to get himself on the ball, although Postecoglou’s claim that “there’s more to come” from the player is hard to dispute, with certain areas of his game requiring some improvement.

For example, Kulusevski ranks in just the 30th percentile of his positional peers for the number of shots he has taken this season (1.93 per 90) and certainly needs to begin giving opposing goalkeepers more to think about. He often finds himself in positions where he should shoot, but will instead pick a pass or look to beat one man too many.

He also needs to become more efficient when he is taking his man on. While he sits in the 68th percentile of Premier League attacking midfielders and wingers for the number of take-ons he attempts (4.59 per 90), he only finds himself in the 57th percentile for the number of those attempted take-ons which are successful (1.75 per 90), leaving him with a success rate of just 38.2 per cent.

There is nothing to suggest that Kulusevski cannot improve in these areas, and if he can do that, his potential is a scary thought for opposition players, and a wonderful one for Tottenham fans.

In other Tottenham news, the club have set their sights on signing a Champions League-winning midfielder in January who is ready to leave his club.