Dejan Kulusevski has wowed in his short time at Tottenham but there is one moment he would ideally like to forget. Leading 2-0 at Norwich City on the final day of the 2021/22 season, the Swede had a glorious opportunity to make it three just after the hour mark. Kulusevski’s mistake didn’t prove costly at all and he has since had a joke about it. Reliving the moment, the youngster has revealed what exactly was going through his head after skipping beyond Krul to find himself with an empty net.
Dejan Kulusevski said: “Two minutes before the goal, there was a weird situation. I was free with the goalkeeper. A lot of things went down. A guy tackled me. I’m alone with the goalkeeper. I was thinking ‘should I lay down? He’s going to get sent off.’ But I was like ‘no, I have to score of course.’ So their keeper comes out and then hesitates. So I realise that I’m going to get there first. So I run past him. I have an empty goal in front of me. I was like ‘man, this is awkward’ I don’t really like to have an open goal. And the fans are right next to me, you know. They are shouting ‘Gimme, Gimme’ right next to me. I’m like ‘take a deep breath. Take your time, Dejan. You have an open goal’. I’m staring at it, you know it’s definitely empty! But I take one more touch. Then I think ‘now maybe it is time to finally shoot’. But then I see Son. I see my teammate Son. He is like ‘pass me the ball!’ He needs one more goal to win the Golden Boot. And we all have said before the game that we need to pass to Son. You know Son has to win the Golden Boot. So I’m like ‘Dejan, forget about the goal you have to assist Son’. I pass the ball and when I pass the ball I get stuck in the ground. So it becomes a wrong touch and the ball just rolls slowly towards the goal and they clear the ball at the goalline. And I just stand there after and think ‘bro…Dejan… what the (swear word) are you doing?’ I’m thinking ‘you are the biggest idiot’. And I felt so ashamed. And I got so frustrated and was like give me the ball again. Then two minutes later I get the ball again and then I don’t think at all I just put the ball in the top corner.”
Scoring twice at Carrow Road, Kulusevski finished the season with five goals and eight assists from his 20 goals for the Lilywhites. Given the huge success of his move from Juventus so far, the former Parma man’s numbers could be extremely impressive next term if he carries on where he left off.
