Dejan Kulusevski (born 25 April 2000) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a winger or midfielder for Serie A club Juventus and the Sweden national team.
Coming through from the youth system, Kulusevski made his senior debut for Atalanta in 2019, before joining Parma on loan at the beginning of the 2019–20 season. He joined Juventus during the winter transfer window for €35 million, and was sent back to Parma on loan for the rest of the season.
Born in Sweden to Macedonian parents, Kulusevski chose to represent his native country internationally at senior level, and made his full debut in 2019.
Kulusevski is a quick, physical, and technical player, capable of playing in various midfield and attacking positions. Mainly deployed as a right winger, he can also play as an attacking midfielder, as an offensive–minded central midfielder or mezzala (Italian for half-winger), or as a centre-forward.
He joined the Atalanta youth system on 7 July 2016 from Brommapojkarna, before making any senior appearance for the club. He made his Serie A debut on 20 January 2019, coming on as a substitute for Marten de Roon in a 5–0 away win against Frosinone. He made a total of three appearances for the club throughout the 2018–19 season, each as a substitute.
On 18 July 2019, Kulusevski signed to Serie A club Parma on loan until 30 June 2020. He scored his first Serie A goal in a 3–2 home win against Torino, on 30 September. On 14 December 2019, Kulusevski scored his fourth league goal, against Napoli; he became the youngest player in the top five leagues in Europe to have scored more than three goals to date. He was also one of two players born after 1 January 1999, alongside Jadon Sancho, to have made at least seven assists in the top five European leagues.
Kulusevski made his first official training session with Juventus on 25 August 2020. He scored on his professional club debut, on 20 September 2020, in a 3–0 league win at home against Sampdoria. He made his UEFA Champions League debut on 20 October, in a 2–0 away win over Dynamo Kyiv in the group stage. On 25 October, he came off the bench and scored against Hellas Verona in a 1–1 home draw. On 19 May, he scored the opening goal and later set-up Federico Chiesa's match–winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Atalanta in the 2021 Coppa Italia Final.
Born in Sweden to Macedonian parents from Ohrid, Kulusevski played for all Swedish youth national teams, as well as the Macedonia under-16 national team. He was called up to the Sweden national team for the first time in November 2019 for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying games against Romania and the Faroe Islands. For the senior national team, Kulusevski has said that his choice of allegiance was 'an easy one' since it was always his preference to represent Sweden.
Kulusevski made his senior international debut for Sweden on 18 November 2019, coming on as a substitute for Ken Sema in a 3–0 win against the Faroe Islands in the last game of the Euro 2020 qualifying stage. On 8 September 2020, he made his first start for Sweden, playing for 90 minutes before being substituted for Albin Ekdal in a 0–2 loss to Portugal in the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League. On 14 November 2020, Kulusevski scored his first international goal against Croatia in a 2–1 home win in the Nations League. |
