Antonio Conte has confirmed that Dejan Kulusevski is not available for this Sunday's Premier League match against Newcastle United. A key player for Spurs ever since joining from Juventus at the start of the year, the attacker has been a big miss for the Lilywhites in recent weeks.
Not featuring at all since September's international break after picking up a hamstring injury on Sweden international duty, the 22-year-old has been absent from the Tottenham matchday squad for the past six games. His absence has been felt, most notably his creativity as Spurs have struggled in the final third as a result of his injury issue.
Speaking to the media at Hotspur Way on Friday afternoon to preview the Newcastle clash, Conte issued an update on Kulusevski and stated that they will "have to wait a bit of time to see him with us" once again.
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"Not news. Deki Kulusevski is not available. I think we have to wait a bit of time to see him with us. It is the same for Richarlison," said Conte. "The other is Emerson, who comes back after a ban. Then we have another training session tomorrow to try to make an evaluation.
"Now to play many games in such a short period, you have to try to check and speak to the players to understand who needs to have a bit of rest to try to avoid injury. We will see tomorrow and then we'll make the best decision for the game on Sunday against Newcastle."
On if he is worried that Kulusevski might not be back until after the World Cup, Conte added: "Yeah because his recovery was going well and then one day the situation worsened. Then when this type of situation happens, you have to restart.
"You need time, but we have the medical department to face injury situations and they have to solve the situation in a short period because you know if you are good to solve the situation in a short period, it means points in the table."
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