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Tottenham made aware of midfield star’s importance vs Manchester United in Europa League final

Originally posted on To The Lane And Back
By Rohan Sengupta | Last updated May 19, 2025 4:45 PM ET

Tottenham star Dejan Kulusevski has been ruled out of the Europa League final vs Manchester United following knee surgery

Tottenham Hotspur have endured a dismal Premier League campaign and are on course for their worst Premier League finish to date, sitting 17th with one game left.

The Lilywhites will get an opportunity to salvage the season to some extent on Wednesday evening when they face Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League final in Bilbao. Ange Postecoglou has a huge task on his hands as he travels to Spain with a weakened squad. With his future in the balance, the Greek-Aussie tactician has a job of ending the club’s 17-year-long trophy drought and carve his name into Spurs’ history books.

However, Tottenham’s chances of ending their trophy hoodoo received a big setback last week when it was revealed that Dejan Kulusevski will miss the Europa League final against Manchester United. He has joined fellow midfielders James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall on the sidelines, with the trio ruled out for the rest of the season.

Dejan Kulusevski suffered an injury to his right knee in the 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace earlier this month. Ange Postecoglou as he initially wasn’t too concerned about the 25-year-old’s fitness issue after being substituted early in the game, but he has now undergone surgery and will not participate in Tottenham’s biggest fixture of the season.

Speaking on Sky Sports Premier League, Paul Merson said Kulusevski will be a big miss for Tottenham. As a result, he has tipped Man United to beat Spurs in the final.

“I just I think, I think Kulusevski is a massive miss. Kulusevski is playing I’m like I’m probably going with Tottenham, but I think he’s by far their best player and I think it’ll be a big miss,” Paul Merson said.

Spurs’ season has been ravaged by injuries, with Kulusevski becoming the latest casualty. The Swede was undoubtedly the club’s best player in the first half of the season, thriving in a new-found central role. talent His form dipped a bit since the start of February and the creative midfielder also had to spend more than a month on the sidelines due to a foot injury.

The most interesting thing is that there still seems to be a lot of improvements the Scandinavian talent can make to take his game to the next level. Fans often feel like he needs to be more ruthless in the final third and believe in his own talents – that seems to be something which was coming along this season in a new role.

The absence of Kulusevski, Maddison and Bergvall has left Ange’s midfield wafer thin. Without them, the North Londoners don’t have a player who can carve the United backline with his vision and incisive passing.

This may force Ange to start only two central midfielders and go with Wilson Odobert in the No.10 role in a tweaked 4-2-3-1 system, having been pleased with the Frenchman’s performance in the hole behind the striker against Aston Villa last weekend.

This article first appeared on To The Lane And Back and was syndicated with permission.

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