Dejan Kulusevski is expected to be out until around the turn of the year, the Guardian understands. The Tottenham attacking midfielder underwent knee surgery in mid-May and, although the injury was serious, the extent of the lay-off he faces has until now been unclear.
Losing the Sweden international, who scored 10 goals and provided 11 assists in 50 appearances for Spurs last season, is another headache for Thomas Frank, who is digesting the club being gazumped by Arsenal for the £67.5m signature of Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze. The manager’s other key attacking midfielder, James Maddison, is a long-term casualty after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament against Newcastle in pre-season.
The pressure is on Spurs to respond to missing out on Eze with a statement signing after the failure earlier in the summer to sign Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White. They thought they had the midfielder after moving on a £60m buyout clause in his contract only for the Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis, to refuse to sanction the deal.
Spurs have shown an interest in the Manchester City winger, Savinho, although City maintain they want to keep him. Spurs play at City on Saturday lunchtime. Whether their opponents soften their stance after the game remains to be seen.
Spurs have made enquiries about Monaco’s Maghnes Akliouche. The France under-21 international, who has burnished his reputation after two impressive seasons at Monaco, can play on the wing or through the middle. Frank is also open to signing Yoane Wissa from his former club, Brentford, and retains an interest in the Southampton winger, Tyler Dibling, while Como’s Nico Paz is another option.
Spurs have been relatively quiet so far in the transfer window. In terms of new faces, they have added Mohammed Kudus, Joao Paulinha, Luka Vuskovic and Kota Takai.
