Tottenham Hotspur practically got a new player this summer thanks to the resurgence of Djed Spence, but who is he, why was his career going wrong, and how valuable is he?
It has been a strange two years at Tottenham for Djed Spence, but he’s finally on the right track and is firmly a part of Ange Postecoglou‘s plans now.
Seen as he’s a fully-fledged member of the Spurs first-team squad now, Spence is a player you absolutely have to know everything about, and that’s where we come in. Here are all the key details on the xxfyodefender.
Djed Spence is a versatile defender
Djed Spence is primarily a right-back, but he can also function at left-back as he has been doing under Postecoglou at Spurs this season.
In the past, Spence’s athleticism and attack-minded sensibilities made him a fairly useful right-winger, too, but he generally operates more defensively.
At present, Spence is pretty much the first-choice understudy to both Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie, filling in on either side of the defence.
Where did Spurs sign Spence from?
Spurs signed Djed Spence from Middlesbrough in 2022, but he previously played for Nottingham Forest rather prominently, too.
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Spence began his career with the Fulham academy before switching to Middlesbrough as a youngster. He made 70 appearances for the senior team there, but fell out of favour when Neil Warnock took over.
From there, he enjoyed a successful loan spell with Nottingham Forest in the year they won promotion from the Championship, scoring five goals and registering three assists. He was named in the EFL Championship Team of the Season and the PFA Championship team of the season in 2022.
After impressing in the second tier, Spurs snapped him up, with Spence opting for the big move rather than staying with Forest.
Life at Spurs has been difficult for Djed Spence
Arriving at Spurs with plenty of hype, there were big hopes that Spence could finally be the replacement right-back the club had been searching for since letting Kyle Walker leave, but things did not work out for him under Antonio Conte.
In the 2022/23 campaign, Spence made just six appearances for Tottenham, amounting to just 43 minutes of game time. He spent the second half of that season on loan at French side Stades Rennais.
When he returned, Conte was gone, but Postecgolou didn’t feel Spence was right for the squad and the young defender was loaned out to Leeds United for the 2023/24 campaign.
However, his loan spell there was cut short, with manager Daniel Farke implying there may be some kind of behavioural issue leading to the decision. A move to Italian outfit Genoa for the second half of the season helped repair Spence’s reputation somewhat and the Italian side were keen to sign him on a permanent deal.
But, over the summer, Spence knuckled down and showed an impressive turnaround in his attitude. It was enough to win Postecoglou over, and he was retained for the current season.
Spence a new contract at Tottenham keeping him at the club until 2028. On that decision, Postecoglou said: “With Djed, it could have been easy for to go out on loan again. But when he came into pre-season, he was determined to make a career for himself here at Tottenham rather than wait to be loaned out.
“He did everything right in training, his attitude was great. He’s a good footballer, I think the way we play suits him and he’s knuckled down to that. And he’s earned himself a spot on the roster in our squad.”
The only negative for Spence this term is that he was left out of Postecoglou’s Europa League squad for the league phase, meaning he is having to make do with domestic cup action and a bit-part role in the Premier League for now.
Djed Spence’s salary and market value
It is believed Djed Spence earns around £25,000 per week at Spurs, and his current market value is roughly £6.65m.
Spence is one of the lowest-earners on the Tottenham wage bill, with an annual salary of £1.3m, which puts him on par with Wilson Odobert. Only Lucas Bergvall, Brandon Austin, and Alfie Whiteman are thought to earn less right now.
Tottenham reportedly paid an initial £12.5m to sign Spence in 2022, with add-ons potentially taking that deal closer to £20m. His market value has dropped significantly since then, largely due to his lack of game time over the last two years.
Spence’s personal information and social media
Djed Spence was born in London, England, on August 9, 2000, making him 24-years-old at the time of writing. His full name is Diop Tehuti Djed-Hotep Spencg.
He is an English citizen, but also has Jamaican and Kenyan heritage due to his father and mother respectively. Spence has represented the England Under-21s on six occassions, and therefore could switch national allegiance if he wanted to.
Spence is 1.84m tall and weighs just 71kg. Like many in the Spurs squad, he is a tall but lean young man with a very athletic build.
You can find Spence on Instagram, where he has over 178k followers, or on Twitter/X, though he is far less active on that platform, with just under 64k followers.