The remarkable turnaround of Tottenham’s Djed Spence
The 24-year-old has solved a Tottenham problem – and could fix an England one too
Ange Postecoglou has encountered plenty of nasty surprises during his second season in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, but Djed Spence’s rise has been a rare positive one.
The 24-year-old has been one of Spurs’ best players since breaking into the team in mid-December, producing standout displays against the two most prolific right-wingers in the Premier League this season, Mo Salah and Bryan Mbeumo.
“I back myself against any winger, Salah or whoever. I back myself against anyone,” Spence told the Evening Standard after nullifying Mbeumo last Sunday.
It has been a remarkable turnaround for a player who has spent more time at other clubs than at Spurs since joining them two-and-a-half years ago.
Up until recently, it looked unlikely that Spence would ever recover from an inauspicious start to his Spurs career when his then-manager Antonio Conte labelled him a “club signing”.
It was a scathing – and frankly, unnecessary – remark that immediately put Spence on the back foot, casting doubts over his attitude and aptitude to play for a “big” club.
As if to emphasise his total lack of faith in Spence, Conte only used him four times in the Premier League: as an 89th-minute sub on three occasions and an 88th-minute sub on the other.
It took Postecoglou a while to see the potential too. Mixed loan spells at Rennes and Leeds United followed by a more productive stint at Genoa, didn’t exactly indicate that Spurs were misusing an elite talent.
Accusations that he lacked focus and professionalism, which predated his move to north London, resurfaced again.
“Obviously, the potential and the quality of the player [is important] but it’s also [about] professionalism, discipline, workload on and off the pitch,” said Leeds boss Daniel Farke after Spence’s loan was terminated halfway through last season.
Even after forcing his way into Postecoglou’s plans last pre-season, Spence was omitted from the Australian’s Europa League squad in September as Spurs navigated Uefa‘s stringent registration rules.
Gradually, though, Spence has started to show why Spurs bought him – after a sensational season with Nottingham Forest – in the first place.
He hasn’t looked back since making his first competitive start for the club on 15 December against Southampton, a full 880 days after joining. It took him just 36 seconds to make his mark, providing an assist for James Maddison in a 5-0 rout.
Spence has played so well that Spurs fans have wondered why it has taken this long for him to be given a chance.
“He’s been outstanding since he came into the team. He had to bide his time. It’s fair to say we needed Djed to be patient and also mature a little bit and I think he has,” Postecoglou explained post-Brentford.
From being on the periphery, Spence has now become pivotal. Equally adept at playing on the left as he is on the right, he has emerged as a serious competitor to both Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie when the latter is fit again.
Spence has demonstrated his capabilities in both defence and attack.
He ranks second in Spurs’ squad for tackles made per game (behind Udogie) and is top for dribbles. If there was a metric for outside-of-the-boot passes, he’d be right at the top of that chart too.
Maintain this level over the next month and he will make a compelling case to be included in Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad for the games against Albania and Latvia in March.
Perhaps most impressive about Spence’s ascent is how unfazed by it all he is. No challenge has been too great, and no rival too daunting.
He acquitted himself well in the north London derby and will need to be on his A-game for round two against Salah in a season-defining game for Spurs.
“[Salah] is a great player, a top player. He’s in good form. You’ve just got to nullify what he’s good at, really,” he said last weekend, making the challenge sound comically straightforward.
That laid-back persona has probably held Spence back at times. There was an obvious personality clash between him and fiery characters like Conte and Neil Warnock, who shipped him out at Boro.
But with the pressure on him and Spurs set to be ramped up inside the Anfield cauldron, he will need that calmness more than ever.
