Tottenham Hotspur made some final moves to close out the January transfer window. The north London club completed a double swoop for Juventus’ Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Kulusevski was in London to complete his move to Spurs and afterward, spoke with the club’s official website. The 21-year-old discussed watching the Premier League while growing up in Sweden as his 18-month loan to Tottenham is now official.
“I feel very good; I’m very happy to be here, very grateful for this opportunity that Spurs have given me,” Kulusevski said.
“The Premier League has always been the league – since I was 15, I was thinking about the Premier League because that’s what we watched in Sweden; that was the best league in the world, and I still think it is. It’s just another world. I was always thinking, ‘when can I go there?’ and then when this opportunity came, I didn’t think twice.
The new Tottenham loanee laid out his plans to make North London his permanent home. Manager Antonio Conte needs some scoring outside of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, and Kulusevski wants to provide offense.
“I hope to bring energy to the team. I love playing football, it’s the best thing in the world, playing, attacking, defending, playing for each other. To win games, score goals, assists… I just want to do it all,” Kulusevski said.
“That’s how I have been since I was five years old, playing football with my sister, with my family, with my friends. Football is everything I’ve had, and I think it’s fun – the important thing is that you have fun when you play because if you have fun, you’re going to play much better. That’s an important thing that I hope I can bring here.”
Kulusevski finally adds that he hopes to get to know his new teammates and manager Antonio Conte who he has played against during his time in Serie A.
“Now, here at Spurs, I’m excited to work with everybody. I know (Pierluigi) Gollini, I played with him in Atalanta, but I’m very much looking forward to working with the coach because I know him from Inter,” Kulusevski said.
“He’s a very good coach, he’s a winner, and that’s what I want to be, so I want to learn as much as possible from him. Then with the players, there’s some very good players here, and I want to collaborate with them a lot because that’s my playing style – I don’t play alone, I play with my teammates, so I hope we can help each other a lot.”
Outside of the pitch, the new Spurs forward hopes that his move to the Premier League will allow him to use this opportunity in England to improve his grasp of the English language.
“I’ve been playing in Italy, so I speak perfect Italian,” Kulusevski said. “I speak some English – I’m very happy that I’m here because I know that my English is going to be better, so that’s a good thing – plus I speak Swedish, and my parents are from Macedonia, so I speak Macedonian also.
If you are predicting out top 4 finishing based on other teams’ problems then you should apply for a job on levi’s team of losers (if you are not already part of the team)……
Absolutely. Well put. It just never ends. These two additions Kulusevski & Bentacur are just average midfield (or attacking midfield) players. They do not even have EPL experience and are not even guaranteed Serie A Starters…… Good Grief…… Granted Conte could improve them but that is all wishfull thinking. levi you are the worlds biggest cheapie deluxe….. and no mistake
One thing for sure Levy might have saved a few quid on wages but has lost a whole lot more on transfers paid and lost.
It will depend a lot on injuries. For example if Lloris or Kane get injured then top 4 will be more unlikely. Don’t forget we’ll still be playing twice a week.
But the situation with the 3 stooges gone hopefully permanently (definite with Dele), will improve morale around the camp and the players will have a proper go.
But the other 3 teams up there will feel the same and all are capable of going on a run. A few draws and you suffer. It’s touch and go. But hopefully we can do it.
It’s been a bad window again. 2 in 4 out. The two in aren’t a significant upgrade to what we already had, to be honest I think we are weaker than when the window started.
Conte Evaluated the squad and was very clear, we all knew what he wanted, a left footed centre back, a right wing back, an attacking central creative midfielder and a striker. So Levy with the help of Paratici goes and buys him a winger and another defensive midfielder, nothing like what Conte asked for, they only got those two because of Paratici’s links to Juve.
Every window is the same, Levy makes out he’s making offers for all these top players, big money offers, knowing full well they won’t sign or come. And every window we end up signing average players at best. But it’s all OK because Levy’s made another profit in the window and all the Spurs fans have been fooled into believing it’s been a great window for us.
The true Spurs fans will make themselves heard at the next home game and will be calling for Levy and Lewis to get out of OUR club.
Lo Celso was one of the 3 dropped completely from the last game, so no surprises there.
No to Lo Celso ever returning, he has nothing and is not liked around the club. We don’t want his type upsetting the applecart again.
The two in seem on the face of it seem focused professionals with no quirks and something to prove, that’s gotta be good.
Those gone out on loans are the concern as that means they could come back, however the two in, seem solid enough professionals who want to play, that’s a bonus.
Exactly what I was saying in the previous blog.
We got rid of 4 players that didn’t contribute much this season & got 2 in that will contribute a lot, this season & beyond.
Conte can now work with this group & rely on them till the end of the season & make more positive changes in the summer.
Completely agree & London Celso is a loan, so a Conte pre season will help him, if & when he returns.
In terms of the top 4 chase I think we have a chance after this window, primarily because other teams in the chase have had a bad time whether relating to transfers or other ‘issues’.
The Greenwood drama at United won’t derail them but by the same token it’s very bad news for them and their performances are even more erratic than ours…only Lady Luck and a squad crammed full of finishers have bailed them out so far. Don’t think it’ll continue.
If you thought the Kane saga was grim then look over the road at the Aubameyang fallout – they haven’t replaced him, they’re still short on goals until the summer. They missed out of the Vlaovic (spelling?) lad and it’s all going wrong. Think they’re due a dip now in their eternal cycle of disappointment under Arteta.
West Ham didn’t strengthen and the wheels have started coming off there. They will find their level and it won’t be top 4. Villa are doing decent business but are just a bit behind and still a bit short. Wolves and Leicester aren’t consistent.
I don’t know anything about these two new signings but on the face of it we have signed two good eggs and git rid of 3 rotten eggs.
Bentancur was Juves first choice centre mid whilst they won a hat trick of titles. Kulu is young, seems to have a good attitude and had an impressive season at Parma. Not being able to be first choice at Juve at the age of 21 does not mean you are rubbish.
These seem to be 2 solid reliable signings. And if Conte wanted them as well then that’s just fine.
I guess there’s an element of us being out of Europe that means it was seen as acceptable to squeeze home with a light’ish squad. The four we shifted added nothing this season, Gil’s cameos were ok but I think a more solid attacking option was required for now and it seems we’ve got that.
Four midfielders for two spaces looks healthier, it’s the engine room after all. Still think we need to go back in the summer and get a world beater in the middle of the park.
Clearing the decks was the main thing – there’s no excuse not to throw big deals at two or three in the summer as wage gobblers GLC, Ndombele and Alli could all be gone, as might Doherty and Sanchez (or Kane, gulp).
A 6/10 window leading to a 10/10 window in the summer I’d take, see if that pans out.
Look, I don’t think we can pretend this has been a successful window for Spurs.
A lot of fans would of anticipated Dele & NDombele leaving but the Gil & Lo Celso loans will have surprised many fans.
The two players coming in don’t have glowing reviews and I think it’s a sideways step in terms of recruitment.
My worry is that Romero, a player who actually looked promising, will have lost a friend at the club. I hope this doesn’t hinder him settling at Spurs.
We got rid of 3 disgruntled players, loaned 1 player “for the future” out for more game time & signed 2 middle of the road midfielders. Are we better off? Only slightly I’m my opinion. I dread to think what our bench will look like. I give this window a 6/10 but much more work required. Let’s hope we get top 4.