An ex-Sweden substitute has condemned De Zerbi’s “stupid” treatment of Bergvall and had his say on Dejan Kulusevski’s road to recovery
A former Sweden international has called for Lucas Bergvall to leave Tottenham due to Roberto De Zerbi’s “cruel” treatment of the 20-year-old.
football.london reported last week that Bergvall’s representatives had informed Tottenham of his desire to leave the club this summer in search of regular game time in his favoured number eight role. Following Sweden’s World Cup elimination after a 3-0 loss to France, Bergvall told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that he’s unsure of his future, but insisted he wants regular game time.
“I want continuous matches in my position. That is the only goal,” Bergvall said after the game, “we’ll see what happens in the future. I’ve only been focused on the World Cup until now.”
While Swede has made 78 appearances for Spurs since arriving from Djurgarden two years ago, neither Thomas Frank or Roberto De Zerbi have taken to the 20-year-old as he saw both his starts and minutes dwindle under both managers respectively.
Former Swedish international Simon Thern has encouraged Bergvall to leave Spurs if his problems with De Zerbi persist, urging the 20-year-old not to change his playing style for any manager.
“Incredible player. The speed and the desire to always move forward on the pitch makes me happy,” Thern wrote in a column for Fotbollskanalen, “[I’ve] heard talk about De Zerbi not liking players who take too many touches on the ball…stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!”
Thern continued his harsh berating of De Zerbi: “Had the Tottenham coach left Messi out of the eleven for the sake of his system? For God’s sake, don’t change your playing style, Lucas!”
The former Swedish international then branded De Zerbi’s treatment of Bergvall as “cruel”, and offered his take on the 20-year-old’s conundrum: “Change teams if it becomes a problem.”
Indeed, with Tottenham spending £185m this week on bringing midfielders Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali to Hotspur Way, Bergvall’s path to regular minutes in his favoured number eight position seems more obstructed than ever. Compounded by the fact Tottenham will not be troubling the continent next season with European football, should Bergvall stay at Spurs it is difficult to imagine a different scenario to last season in which he played a bit part role.
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Thern also mentioned Dejan Kulusevski, who has not played for his club or country since undergoing surgery in May 2025. The 26-year-old was a sore miss for the Lilywhites last season, and was facing a race against time in a bid to be fit enough to play a role in Sweden’s World Cup campaign this summer.
Kulusevski was left disappointed to have missed out of Graham Potter’s World Cup squad, as his manager confirmed the tournament had come a little too early for Kulusevski when explaining the difficult decision to omit him from his 26-man squad.
On Kulusevski, Thern wrote: “I would have played Dejan centrally. He’s incredible at covering and keeping the ball and dangerous going forward.”
“If Kulusevski makes it back to football…I’ve started to doubt it after seeing pictures of how he moves.”
While neither the club nor Kulusevski have confirmed an official date the 26-year-old will wear the Lilywhite shirt again, the expectation is that he will return next season and possibly even participate in pre-season preparations before the Premier League gets underway in August.
While the Swede undoubtedly still has a long road ahead of him before he is back to full fitness, Kulusevski still has around a month before the Tottenham players are expected to return to training ahead of their pre-season preparations.
