Dejan Kulusevski has told a court he needs his car to drive home from away games and take his young family to hospital appointments, as the Tottenham Hotspur winger faces a six-month driving ban after accumulating at least 12 penalty points for speeding offences.
The 26-year-old Swedish international was caught driving at 43mph in a 30mph limit through the Limehouse Link tunnel in east London at 3.39pm on 28 September last year. He pleaded guilty to the latest offence last week under the Single Justice Procedure, and his case has now been referred to a sentencing hearing on 21 September at Barkingside Magistrates' Court.
The Metropolitan Police said in written submissions to the court that Kulusevski would now have at least 12 penalty points on his licence, the threshold at which a driver faces an automatic six-month disqualification.
In an email to the court explaining his mitigating circumstances, Kulusevski said he could not attend in person because he was in training "after a one year injury as a professional footballer". The winger missed the whole of last season and the 2026 World Cup through injury.
"I would ask that when you are considering my case you take the following mitigating circumstances into consideration as an appeal," he wrote.
"My young family need me to drive them to various appointments and in case there are necessities to go to a hospital with them I have to be on hand.
"I also drive to work and back where the hours can be antisocial eg. I return from an away game very late at night."
Kulusevski, who has scored 25 goals for Spurs since joining in 2022, acknowledged that his "speeding offences were mostly just over the varying speed limits in London areas". He added: "However, I understand I was over the speed limit."
Motorists who reach 12 penalty points can appeal to a magistrate to be spared a ban, but they must prove that disqualification would cause "exceptional hardship" if imposed.
The case is the latest off-pitch disruption for a player who has spent more than a year on the sidelines. Kulusevski's injury problems have kept him out of both club and international football, and he has been working his way back to full fitness at Tottenham's training ground in Enfield.
The winger joined Spurs from Juventus in 2022 and has been one of the club's most consistent attacking threats when fit. His absence last season was a significant blow to the north London side, who struggled for creativity in wide areas without him.
The speeding offence in September took place during a period when Kulusevski was still recovering from the injury that ultimately ruled him out for the entire campaign. The timing of the incident, captured on camera in the Limehouse Link tunnel on a Saturday afternoon, adds another layer to a difficult year for the player.
Kulusevski's email to the court paints a picture of a player trying to balance the demands of a top-flight football career with family life. His reference to returning from away games late at night speaks to the gruelling travel schedule that comes with Premier League football, where squads frequently cross the country for midweek fixtures and weekend matches.
The court will now have to weigh those personal circumstances against the repeated nature of the speeding offences. Under the Single Justice Procedure, cases are typically dealt with on paper without a hearing, but Kulusevski's case has been escalated to a full sentencing hearing at Barkingside Magistrates' Court in September.
The winger's guilty plea means the only question left for the magistrate is the penalty. With at least 12 points already on his licence, the burden falls on Kulusevski to convince the court that a ban would cause exceptional hardship, a high legal bar that requires more than general inconvenience.
His argument rests on two pillars: the needs of his young family and the demands of his job as a professional footballer. Whether that amounts to exceptional hardship in the eyes of the court will be decided on 21 September.
According to Yahoo Sports.