Player Watch Player Watch: Dejan Kulusevski

[only1waddle]

I really like Olise and would be so happy if we signed him. But, I actually think Neto maybe suits us slightly better, as he can play on either flank and seemingly equally as well. But I'd be delighted with either and I'm also of the opinion that Eze could play wing forward on either side no problem. At Palace he plays as part of a midfield 3, but with his skill set he could play any of the LWF, RWF or number 10 for us. No full back is going to want to take Eze on.

Neto is great but he's had 3 big injuries at age 23, I'm not sure we want to bring in another injury prone player.

 

[Styopa]

He’s not been great but he has a unique skill set compared to the rest of our wide players. I think he would be difficult to replace. A lot of the team are struggling at the moment and that can make everyone look a bit worse. I think once the team starts clicking again he’ll come back into form.

 

[joey55]

Neto is great but he's had 3 big injuries at age 23, I'm not sure we want to bring in another injury prone player.

I think its very reasonable worry. Especially when you watch him running, as it's so intense, it looks like something could snap at any time.

 

[only1waddle]

I think its very reasonable worry. Especially when you watch him running, as it's so intense, it looks like something could snap at any time.

I've just looked it up now and his last 3 are 58, 127 and 297 days out since April 2021.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

He is no better than a squad/rotation option. Frustratingly slow, painfully single footed, constantly makes the wrong decision between passing and shooting and just doesn’t look suited to this system whatsoever. Unfortunately for us, his only real competition (Johnson) is even worse.

We definitely need a proper dribbly right winger in the summer.

Thing is, we just spent £65 + mil (Johnson and making Kulu permanent) on the RW position last summer. I really don’t see us going out and spending again on the RW. Even if we ignore Kulu I think we are more likely to put our faith in Johnson developing who was not cheap. Maybe if we move Kulu central then we might be looking at RW but if we do I struggle to see us spending large. It will more likely be another younger prospect rather than a developed 50/60 mil established player.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Neto is great but he's had 3 big injuries at age 23, I'm not sure we want to bring in another injury prone player.

There’s starting to be concerns around Olise’s hamstring also this season. He was out for a very long stretch and today he came on as a sub at half time against Brighton and suffered a recurrence of the same hamstring injury so had to come off after only 10 mins. I know he doesn’t have any history of Hamstring injuries but it’s something worth keeping an eye on. Ether way him and Neto will be too expensive for us regardless.

 

[Snuzzy]

I think with Deki the problem (if you can call it that) is that his skillset is most valuable and he looks better against the best opposition/defences. He is such a pest and so good physically that he doesn't drop his level against the elites and you can see even the best defenders hate having him as an assignment. Conversely, he doesn't have the pace to fully exploit the opportunities afforded when we play a team we expect to be a level above.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

Thing is, we just spent £65 + mil (Johnson and making Kulu permanent) on the RW position last summer. I really don’t see us going out and spending again on the RW. Even if we ignore Kulu I think we are more likely to put our faith in Johnson developing who was not cheap. Maybe if we move Kulu central then we might be looking at RW but if we do I struggle to see us spending large. It will more likely be another younger prospect rather than a developed 50/60 mil established player.

We need wide players on both flanks, it’s really clear to me we badly lack quality on both sides and it’s holding us back massively.

We should go out and activate Nico Williams release clause for LW and then sign Johan Bakayoko for RW imo.

I would love Neto or Olise but both have big injury concerns.

Deki needs to be moved infield permanently as a midfield option, his weaknesses are getting too exposed in our system playing wide.

 

[only1waddle]

There’s starting to be concerns around Olise’s hamstring also this season. He was out for a very long stretch and today he came on as a sub at half time against Brighton and suffered a recurrence of the same hamstring injury so had to come off after only 10 mins. I know he doesn’t have any history of Hamstring injuries but it’s something worth keeping an eye on. Ether way him and Neto will be too expensive for us regardless.

Cheers, that's a bugger, I do feel we need that next stage winger for the promised land.

 

[thebenjamin]

Even apart from the injuries, does anyone actually see us going out and lying down the money for someone like Neto or Olise? It would inevitably mean competing with other big clubs who want them, possible bidding war, wages auction- which seems a bridge too far for Mr Chairman. Despite our financial strength, we're still opportunists in the market. Which worries me going forward as opportunistically getting world class forwards seems unlikely.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

We need wide players on both flanks, it’s really clear to me we badly lack quality on both sides and it’s holding us back massively.

We should go out and activate Nico Williams release clause for LW and then sign Johan Bakayoko for RW imo.

I would love Neto or Olise but both have big injury concerns.

Deki needs to be moved infield permanently as a midfield option, his weaknesses are getting too exposed in our system playing wide.

I don’t disagree but it won’t happen. I don’t see any way we would spend that sort of money on two wingers. Maybe maybe we could get Williams as he’s a natural on both wings but no chance we get two unless we sell someone other then just Gil. Even then we won’t spend big on two plays, it would more likely prospects with one possibly being more established and the other cheaper.

Like I said Ange and club wanted Johnson and they will have known he was still raw. But they spent a lot of money on him so they will want to continue to play a prominent role in the hope it clicks for him. Regardless my thoughts on the matter I just don’t see us going out and spending another 40 + mil on a RW two summers in a row.

 

[ohtottenham!]

Thing is, we just spent £65 + mil (Johnson and making Kulu permanent) on the RW position last summer. I really don’t see us going out and spending again on the RW. Even if we ignore Kulu I think we are more likely to put our faith in Johnson developing who was not cheap. Maybe if we move Kulu central then we might be looking at RW but if we do I struggle to see us spending large. It will more likely be another younger prospect rather than a developed 50/60 mil established player.

I think that depends if Ange thinks that RW area is a critical area to upgrade come the summer while still keeping Kulu and Brennan. It may well be. It'll also depend on the potential exits throughout the squad, wages off the books, monies incoming etc., There are a number of our players who the club may release at season end in order to finance an upgrade where it's needed.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

I don’t disagree but it won’t happen. I don’t see any way we would spend that sort of money on two wingers. Maybe maybe we could get Williams as he’s a natural on both wings but no chance we get two unless we sell someone other then just Gil. Even then we won’t spend big on two plays, it would more likely prospects with one possibly being more established and the other cheaper.

Like I said Ange and club wanted Johnson and they will have known he was still raw. But they spent a lot of money on him so they will want to continue to play a prominent role in the hope it clicks for him. Regardless my thoughts on the matter I just don’t see us going out and spending another 40 + mil on a RW two summers in a row.

Will cost us then imo as it’s vital we get a winger on each flank.

Hopefully we get lucky with a young prospect if we sign one of those instead.

 

[Guntz]

Ether way him and Neto will be too expensive for us regardless.

Which annoys me because we clearly could afford to pay those fees if we wanted to.

I’m all for signing up and coming prospects like Bergvall, but we also need to be making signings who can come in and instantly improve the starting 11.

Kulusevski needs competition for his place, which at the moment he doesn’t have.

 

[bubble07]

Which annoys me because we clearly could afford to pay those fees if we wanted to.

I’m all for signing up and coming prospects like Bergvall, but we also need to be making signings who can come in and instantly improve the starting 11.

Kulusevski needs competition for his place, which at the moment he doesn’t have.

You would think that's what 47m Johnson was brought in for

 

[Guntz]

You would think that's what 47m Johnson was brought in for

IMO he was brought in as a rotational player that could cover all the forward positions.

But yeah, he should have been that player considering the amount of money we spent.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Deki is good player, but as a fan base we need to start aiming higher. We've spent decades being happy when we sign good players, at a young age, for a relatively low fee. But we've now got a huge modern stadium, a state of the art training ground, an international brand and FFP is really starting to kick in. So we have to start thinking about winning the title. Fas and media can bang on and on about systems and philosophies all they like, but at the end of the day, to win titles you need fantastic players, not good one's. Deki is a squad player at best, regardless of his current form. To win the title you need wide forwards that terrify the rest of the league.

There are so many ultra positive eulogies regarding Klopp atm, but last week, on one the Sky podscast things, Jamie Carragher was saying Klopp actualy wanted Julian Brandt and got over ruled and Liverpool bought Salah. WIthout Salah, no one gives a crap about the name Jurgen Klopp in Liverpool. He'd have left 5 years ago already. I know it's far easier said than done, but we need a Salah or a Mane, not a Deki. In fact our sliding doors moment is when we showed Mane around our training ground but couldn't get the deal done and Liverpool came in and did it. We'd probably have won the title with that little bit of extra pace and fire power. Instead we still talk about Lamela so fondly (i love Lamela.) Deki is a new Lamela. He's got plenty of talent, he works so hard, he's really likable, but he is never going totally shit the opposition up because they are terrified of his pace and finishing.

I'm all for spending money on exciting young talent for the future, but the reason I'm not at all bothered about missing out on Nusa or Vermeeren etc, is because I think right now we are close to being a really top team and probably lack just one or two genuienly top class, attacking players and therefore should throw everything at acquiring them in the summer, when the market conditions will never be better for us. Deki is a good player, but he just isn't a title winning wing forward or number 10. Son and Madders are good enough, but we need one or two (but that would be a striker and they are harder to find) more on that level.

The fact this got so many disagrees is an issue with our fanbase being scared to go to the next level and seriously challenge for the title. It smacks to me of some of our fans not liking one of our better and most likeable players being ‘criticised’ when really it’s a fan pointing out a player who if we truly want to win a title in a ideal world would be upgraded.

As you say Kulu is a ‘good’ player but not a ‘great’ player and whilst he can be effective he certainly doesn’t have pace and quality as a wide player to truly scare teams, as you say Liverpool got 2 world class ones on Mane & Salah who helped them to win it all, City at their best had Sane & Sterling and Marhez and now have Doku, Grealish, Foden (although City are more of an overall team of quality rather than their wingers), Arsenal have Saka and Martinelli who I believe both got 10 goals last season?

Kulu has 5 goals 2 assists.

Saka has 7 goals 8 assists.
Salah has 14 goals 8 assists.

The thing is we do have one world class wide attacker in Son who has 12 goals 5 assists and has missed the last 3 games, but as you say I agree that if we want to be brave and one day win a title then we need that level of quality on both sides.

Kulu is however still young and Martinelli who last season hit double figures is currently only on 4 goals 2 assists pretty similar to Kulu so I don’t think Kulu is hugely off the level we need but I would like to ideally see us upgrade on him although can’t see it myself as I think he and Johnson will rotate next season.

Id love us to go out this summer and make a statement and sign someone like: Bakoyoko, Nico Williams, Raphinia, Chiesa or even (never going to happen…Kvaratskhelia) etc. - apparently some of those are LW’s so ideally someone of their quality at RW, as we have a lot of LW’s already especially if we make Werner perm which I reckon we will.

Kulu is however still young so will keep improving but I do also wonder if his lack of pace will stop him becoming a truely world class wide attacker.

 

[agrdavidsfan]

Been out of form since the illness probably covid it knocked him

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

In this Ange system would you play Kulu or peak Aaron Lennon RW?
For me it would be Lennon. Mabye not as strong or as good on the ball but his pace and delivery would cause oppo’s so many issues.

Imagine if in this Ange system he had Bale LW, Lennon RW and Kane up top, surely we’d win the league, we’d win about 6-2 every match!

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

A good comparison is D.Jota from Liverpool, he has 8 goals 2 assists (3 more goals) in 6 games and many minutes less than Kulu in the PL this season.

Jota isn’t even at Salah,Son,Mane,Saka etc levels of wide player but he’s closer to the level we should be aspiring to than settling on Kulu, imo.

That being said Jota is 27 whereas Kulu & Johnson are 23&22 so plenty of time for improvement, I just fear with Kulu that his lack of pace will hold him back a bit from becoming world class like we have in Son on the other side.

Let’s see.