Dejan Kulusevski

Age: 21 (April 2000)

Country: Sweden

Club: Juventus (ex Parma, Atalanta) Position: RW Preferred foot: Left

Height: 6'1"

I know with these scouting report situations you typically watch a game or a few of said player, and then give your thoughts. However, I've seen this player in various situations and know him well enough to go off the cuff, so to speak, so that's what I'm going to do.

Playing style:

Kulusevski is a player who has the ability to play various positions and roles, and in my opinion this has actually been to his detriment. He thrives in open space, and it shows in where he's been successful so far in his career. With Sweden, he plays on the right in more or less a 4-3-3 with Forsberg on the left and Isak through the middle. It'll appear a 4-4-2 on paper, but in reality Forsberg cuts inside and gets forward, while Kulusevski drifts out to the right. Sweden play a direct style, especially against better national teams, sitting in a low block 4-4-2 and hitting the opposition on the break. This is nearly identical to what D'Aversa did at Parma, the club side where Kulusevski broke out. He's fast but not quick, if you get what I mean. Maybe I see myself in him; we're the same height, left footed, not that quick but quite fast, it's just that he's a pro footballer... Anyway, he likes to dribble and cut in on his favored left foot. At the same time, he's strong enough to hold players off, so despite not being quick he's fast, strong, and has enough close control to be an effective dribbler. Young players tend to struggle with end product, but this was not the case at him on the counterattack at Parma, as he put up 10 goals and 8 assists as a 19 y/o in his loan season. The assist number should be eye-catching, as it's seriously impressive. Even in the past year, when he's been underwhelming for Juventus, his per/90 stats for expected assists (0.30) and shot-creating actions (4.33) are in the 95th and 85th percentiles (fbref) for the #10/winger position.

Areas to improve:

The main issue I have with Kulusevski at this point is he needs to find a position and role that fits him. He's not quick (as in laterally), as I said, so he's more effective in open space where he can use his pace and strength to get close to goal. In the playing style part I mentioned his playmaking ability, so to balance that it makes sense to say that his finishing could improve, especially if he's going to be a striker (or 2nd striker). He's a high risk high reward player, which also means he'll play difficult passes that won't come off, so again, teams that overvalue possession won't be ideal for him at this point in his career.

Where I believe he'd thrive:

This is the difficult bit, given he's already at Juventus and was purchased for 31.5 million pounds from Atalanta. Given what I said about his strengths and where he can improve, I'd be eliminating any of the dominant teams that'll have close to 60% possession in games. It's a common theme at Juve that players in the squad aren't suited to the level that club aspires to be or simply don't fit what Allegri does as a coach.

In England, since that's the league with the money, I have a few teams in mind. Newcastle is one, obviously, given how they currently play and the windfall from the new owners. They need players of quality (in all positions), which Kulusevski is. Another is Everton, although it's unclear if they have money left to invest. Townsend is okay, but he's even less consistent and 30 years old already. Leicester is another obvious choice. They've STILL not signed someone who could actually replace Mahrez, despite him leaving 4 seasons ago. Also, despite wanting to become a Champions League team, I don't think that's overly realistic, given the stature of the club and how good Chelsea/City/Liverpool are. Two other destinations that may be less financially feasible are Dortmund and Fiorentina. By that I mean these clubs don't have money lying around like PL clubs do. Dortmund played Sancho at RW and have changed system under Rose to more of a 4-4-2 diamond with Haaland paired with either Malen or Reus. Assuming Haaland goes, I imagine they'd switch to something with wingers, but that could be overly presumptuous. Fiorentina, on the other hand, are a fellow Serie A team that actually play a 4-3-3, and the RW position is currently held by Callejon. Nothing against him, but at this point Kulusevski would be an upgrade. Fiorentina have been really bad the past few years, so like Leicester, and unlike Juve and Dortmund, they'll have their fair share of games hitting "bigger" teams on the counter.