Spurs star used to refuse to defend, former coach reveals – It has all changed now
Amidst the ongoing transformation of Dejan Kulusevski into a complete player at Tottenham, the midfielder’s youth coach has pointed to a surprising issue that the Swede had as a youngster.
Dejan Kulusevski is a machine in midfield
While doing a feature on Kulusevski‘s transformation, The Standard mention the Tottenham man’s running stats this season, which show that he is on a level of his own when it comes to stamina.
They point out that no other player in the Premier League has run further per match or won possession more often in the final third than the 24-year-old.
It is revealed that the Spurs attacker is now on the verge of overhauling Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes for the most ground covered in the division even though he did not start Tottenham’s opening game of the season against Leicester City, and was only introduced on 79 minutes.
Further, it is pointed out that Kulusevski is covering this distance with pace, with only seven players across the league having more sprints than the former Juventus man.
Kulusevski’s former coach makes a surprising revelation
Andreas Engelmark, who was the youth coach at Brommapojkarna when Kulusevski was coming through the ranks at the club, revealed that he did not like to defend as a youngster.
Englemark credits the Spurs man’s defensive improvements to the time he spent in the Serie A.
He told The Standard about the versatile attacker: “He didn’t like to defend. We lost the ball and he was just a few metres away from the player with the ball and could press them obviously.
“But he didn’t do it and I said, ‘Well, what do you think you’re going to do when we don’t have the ball? You need to defend!’ He started working really hard towards the end of his time at the club. In Italy he had to keep doing it, he learnt a lot in Italy in those three years.”
Dejan Kulusevski has made off-field changes at Tottenham
Interestingly, the report states that Dejan Kulusevski has made some changes to his lifestyle at Tottenham this season, which have helped his game.
The outlet claims that the Spurs man is now more focused on his diet, eating habits and sleeping habits, which have allowed him to maximise his physical condition.
It is revealed that Kulusevski has also tried to limit the time he spends doom-scrolling on his phone.
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