Ange Postecoglou insists there is a place in his Tottenham squad for Djed Spence if he continues to "take control of his own direction". Things have not gone according to plan for the right-back since moving to the North London club from Middlesbrough two years ago.
Spence never really found his place under Antonio Conte and went out on loan to French side Rennes for the second half of the 2022/23 season. He was unable to win a spot in Postecoglou's squad that summer and was sent on loan to Leeds United. He failed to shine at Elland Road and his deal was cut short early in the January transfer window.
Spence enjoyed a more successful time at Genoa in Serie A. So much so that the Italian club wanted to re-sign him this summer but were unwilling to meet Spurs' valuation of the 23-year-old.
Spence returned to Spurs with a big point to prove, having played just 43 minutes across six appearances for his parent club. But the former England Under-21 international has impressed throughout pre-season, both in training and in matches. Postecoglou has utilised Spence in the inverted full-back role on the club's tour to Japan and South Korea.
The Australian told our sister title football.london: "I think with Djed, for me we got him back into pre-season and we’re judging him on his merits. He's a Tottenham player. To be fair to him, I think he's been very, very good for us this pre-season, in terms of the way he's trained and his general attitude. But a lot of these things are in the players' hands themselves. They kind of decide their own future in many respects and I think Djed is in that boat.
"I think there's an opportunity for him here, for sure. Thinking about building a squad, he would be definitely somebody who could [contribute] with the attributes he has. I thought last year there was a chance but it didn't quite work out. For those kind of things, I think sometimes players really wait for direction when they can really take control of their own direction."
Spurs have been linked with a number of right-backs this summer but it could well be that Spence has played his way into Postecoglou's first-team plans heading into the 2024/25 season.
"Djed’s here," he said. "He is a Spurs player. He's a very good player who fits into our football and so it's as much about him as it is about me making a decision.
"As you see right now, he's been very good pre-season, he's been very good on the tour. He's impressed all the coaches, not just myself. For some of them it’s the first time they've worked with him and they've all been really impressed with him.
"Maybe he's learned a couple of things over the last couple of years about himself and hopefully we can sort of bear the fruit of that."