How unfortunate, therefore, that a knee injury sustained in April, 2025 not only ruled him out of that magical night in Bilbao, when we lifted the UEFA Europa League, but has kept him sidelined since.
Technically gifted, physically imposing at 6ft 1ins, Deki can be unplayable in the forward areas – off the right, where he’s excelled for us, or in the ‘10’ position – and has the knack for the unexpected, via an assist or a goal – just like his delicate Glenn Hoddle-like chip against Everton in January, 2025.
Twice awarded the Guldbollen (Golden Ball) as Sweden’s best male player, Deki’s performances as part of a front three alongside Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son propelled us to UEFA Champions League qualification in 2022.
Injury struck in 2022/23, but he was back to his best in 2023/24 – eight goals in 36 Premier League appearances – and then appeared in 50 of our 60 games in all competitions in 2024/25 before injury struck. He was also named Sweden captain in 2025.
Spurs career
2025/26 – 0 appearances.
2024/25 – 50 appearances/10 goals, including 32/7 in the Premier League, played in 11 of 13 in UEL.
2023/24 – 39 appearances/8 goals, including 36/8 in the Premier League.
2022/23 – 37 appearances/2 goals.
2021/22 – 20 appearances/5 goals + 8 assists.
Life before Spurs
Born in Stockholm, Dejan moved from Sweden aged just 16 to join Atalanta in Italy, making his senior debut in Serie A in January, 2019. Deki caught the eye on loan at Parma in 2019/20, where 10 goals and 9 assists in 39 appearances earned him Best Young Player in Serie A and a move to Juventus. He was a regular at Juve in 2020/21, winning the Supercoppa Italiana and Coppa Italia, where he scored and provided an assist in the final. He then made 27 appearances in the first half of 2021/22 before moving to Spurs – taking his tally to 74 appearances and nine goals for the Turin giants.
Sweden
After representing Sweden at Under-17, 19 and 21 levels, Deki made his senior debut in November, 2019. He helped Sweden reach the knockout stages of the delayed Euro 2020 in 2021, providing two assists in a key win against Poland. Named captain in 2025, Deki has 45 caps to his name.
Sweden
Sweden