Dejan Kulusevski says one of the happiest moments of his life came when he scored and assisted against Manchester City in his full Tottenham debut.
Kulusevski had tasted defeat twice already before he made his full debut, coming off the bench in the 3-2 capitulation against Southampton and the 2-0 loss to Wolves. He was then told by Antonio Conte that he would be starting away to Manchester City.
Three minutes into that game at the Etihad, Kulusevski scored his first Spurs goal. And by the end of the match, he was the hero once more when he curled a beauty of a cross in for Harry Kane to nod home the later winner.
Kulusevski says it is the most alive he has ever felt and went a long way to improving his confidence after swapping Juventus for Tottenham.
He said (Player’s Tribune): “After the Wolves game, Conte told me that I would start my first Premier League game … away to Man City.
“Honestly, it felt like a joke. I was happy that I was going to start, but I was very nervous, and when we were lining up before the game, I remembered the stuff from Italy. He’s not good enough. He’s too slow. Look, he’s gonna f*** up. The devil’s work.
“We all remember that game. Three minutes in, I score, and it’s like 30 kilos fall off my shoulders. Then in injury time, at 2–2, I put in a cross for Harry, who heads it in. Everyone starts running to him, but I’m on the other side, so I turn, I watch the fans and I scream as loud as I can. ‘I’m him! I’M HIM!’ Just hyping myself up.
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“And I’m not exaggerating: That moment was one of the happiest of my life. It’s the most alive I’ve ever felt in my life. I remember thinking, I don’t care about nobody anymore. Nobody can tell me again that I cannot play this game. Nobody can tell me what I can and cannot do.”
Kulusevski loves the Tottenham dressing room
The winger also opened up on the dressing room atmosphere at Tottenham two years later, and he thinks that is what he will miss most when the time does eventually come to leave Hotspur Way.
He said: “In June last year, I signed a permanent deal at Spurs. It’s one of the easiest decisions I’ve made.
“Playing for this club is like being part of a family. Going into training, you love everybody. I’m going to become a father soon, and many of my teammates just got a kid, so we talk a lot about parenthood. I already know that the day I leave Spurs, the part I’ll miss the most is the dressing room.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
While we don’t want to hear Kulusevski talking about leaving Tottenham any time soon, it’s nice to hear how much the club means to him in his own words, rather than some PR-driven post-match interview. Spurs does very much feel like a family again, and the fans feel part of it for the first time in a long time.
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