When Sweden face Bosnia-Herzegovina at the national stadium in Solna, it will have been 725 days - almost two years - since Dejan Kulusevski last played for Sweden.
The Tottenham star was captain at the time and scored two goals in a 6-0 thrashing of Azerbaijan.
After a hellish injury, Kulusevski is now back with his national team-mates. He is no longer captain and has not played a match since making just four brief appearances for Spurs.
But he is back.
“It’s the same Dejan,” says centre-back Hjalmar Ekdal during Sweden’s Nations League warm-up in Valencia.
“He drives this team forward, even if he is not at his best. But it is really fun to see him here, and I have to say that he looks damn good. He is a leader both on and off the pitch. I think he defines this national team.”
“Becoming unique”
On the sun-drenched training ground in Valencia, Alexander Isak has also enjoyed the company of a new-old playmate.
“Dejan is a type of player that we don’t have otherwise. It will be unique in the team. There is a lot of quality; we have seen it both here in the national team and at Tottenham. So it is great for us that he is back,” says the Liverpool striker.
Dejan Kulusevski is not ready to join Isak in the starting eleven on Saturday night, but in the long run, the 26-year-old’s comeback could give national team captain Graham Potter some positive selection headaches.
Not least because Kulusevski prefers to play in a central role as a “ten” rather than out on the right wing.
“Sometimes the coach puts me on the wing and then I have to adapt, but I think I can contribute more in the middle, of course,” he says.
In addition to Kulusevski, Anthony Elanga is also back from injury, and together with Isak and Viktor Gyökeres, they form a quartet of attacking Premier League aces.
“A problem for Graham”
During Jon Dahl Tomasson’s time as national team coach, the quartet started together only twice. It remains to be seen how things will work under Potter in a different system.
Because there are many attacking players to fit into a 4-4-2?
“That’s true. But it is a problem for Graham,” says Alexander Isak.
“If we’re talking about these players in particular, there are two strikers and two wingers, slash players who can play as a ‘ten’. They’re not four players who can only play in one position. We want very talented players. You want a squad that gives the coach a bit of a headache. That’s how it should be at its best.”
What do you think?