Tottenham lose key midfielder for Man United clash

DEJAN KULUSEVSKI will miss Tottenham’s Europa League final against Manchester United after undergoing surgery on his knee, dealing a major blow to the club’s hopes of ending their trophy drought.

Kulusevski suffered the injury in Sunday’s 2-0 loss at home to Crystal Palace after being caught by Marc Guehi and was substituted in the 19th minute.

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou provided a mixed assessment post-match, but further scans have shown the Swedish playmaker required surgery.

“We can confirm that Dejan Kulusevski suffered an injury to his right patella in our Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace last weekend,” a Tottenham statement said.

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“Following further specialist consultation, the midfielder has undergone surgery today (Wednesday) and will commence his rehabilitation with our medical staff immediately.”

Midfielder James Maddison was last week ruled out for the rest of the season.

Spurs, 17th in the Premier League, take on United, one place above them, in Bilbao on May 21.

Tottenham have not won a trophy since the 2008 League Cup, and have not tasted European glory since winning the Uefa Cup in 1984.

Meanwhile, Man United centre-backs Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Ayden Heaven sat out training a week before the make-or-break Europa League final.

The Red Devils travel to Chelsea on Friday for their penultimate match of a miserable Premier League season, but all eyes are on next Wednesday’s showpiece in Bilbao.

Ruben Amorim could be dealing with a depleted backline against Spurs, judging by United’s open training session at Carrington on Wednesday.

Yoro limped off during Sunday’s 2-0 home defeat to West Ham with a foot problem and was conspicuous by his absence at training, as was De Ligt after picking up an issue at Brentford the previous weekend.

Heaven did individual work ahead of last week’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Athletic Bilbao but was not seen at Wednesday’s session, in which Jonny Evans took part along with Toby Collyer.

Diogo Dalot did an individual session before the main group trained as he seeks to make the final, but Lisandro Martinez and Joshua Zirkzee are out for the remainder of the season.

Additional reporting by PA