Tottenham Hotspur star Dejan Kulusevski has been appointed Sweden captain for September’s international break.
On Wednesday, the 24-year-old insisted that he’s “ready and hungry as hell” to start the new role.
Manchester United’s Victor Lindelöf had been wearing the armband, but the defender isn’t available for the matches against Azerbaijan and Estonia.
Sweden manager Jon Dahl Tomasson had to pick a new captain and decided to hand it to the Tottenham player.
Kulusevski made his debut for Sweden in 2019 and made 39 appearances. He says there’s more responsibility with a new role and his comments are relayed by Fotbollskanalen.
“…to give energy and to read the room with words and actions. I’ve learned a lot from many good ones that I have played with,” he said.
Prior to his arrival at Tottenham in January 2022, the Sweden international had spells at Atalanta, Parma and Juventus. This experience could help him in his new role with the national team.
“I played with Bruno Alves at Parma, with [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Gigi] Buffon, [Giorgio] Chiellini at Juve and Zlatan [Ibrahimovic]. I’ve learned a lot from these players,” Kulusevski explained.
Despite being inspired by his former teammates, the Tottenham attacker has insisted he won’t try to replicate and explains the reason for the same.
“I’m inspired by everything, by new things every day. Tomorrow I won’t copy anything, it’s 100% Dejan,” he added.
“I’ve always had it in me [to be a leader]. I love to gamble and am a very bad loser. I’m ready to sacrifice a lot to win. I will also think about making my teammates better, that is something that I have developed in recent years.”
Anderlecht’s Ludwig Augustinsson has backed Jon Dahl Tomasson’s decision to hand the armband to Kulusevski.
“He has natural leadership qualities. He is a driving force. He wants to move forward, he takes initiative. He pushes the team on the pitch and more and more in the dressing room,” Augustinsson said, as quoted by Aftonbladet.
“He is much more open and outgoing than before. He is growing more and more into a leader, and he has a lot of experience at the highest level. It feels natural that he is the one who takes the armband.”
