One of the heroes of Tottenham Hotspur’s narrow escape from relegation was Djed Spence. Reportedly approaching coach Roberto De Zerbi directly and declaring his willingness and ability to fight tooth and nail, it was in part that attitude and the attitude of players like him that saved Spurs from the ignominy of descent into the second division.
That, plus a couple of key involvements in the World Cup, and it’s no wonder that other clubs might be interested in Djed. Enter Everton:
The report comes from The Athletic, lending some credence to its veracity, but it is light on detail. The long and short of it is largely covered in the tweet above, with Harris and Boyland mentioning Arsenal’s Ben White and Strasbourg’s Guela Doue as alternative targets.
On the face of it, selling Djed seems very much like a bad idea. He’s homegrown, able to cover both sides of the defense, and offers a point of difference to the other fullbacks in the squad with his pace and defensive solidity. Fullback also is an area of the squad that seems somewhat settled, and with problems elsewhere in the side it seems smart to keep the focus on those areas.
If you squint, though, there’s a world in which a sale could make sense. As mentioned above, he’s homegrown, which commands a premium, at the peak of his value, and probably not really threatening the starting XI. That means there is potentially an opportunity here to sell high and reinvest. There’s also rumors (and they are very much only that, rumors) that RDZ isn’t a huge fan of Djed’s ability.
Spurs have been terrible over the last decade or so when it comes to knowing when to shift a player on, and have been horrendously poor at securing deals for player exits to refresh and reinvest in the squad as a whole. I’m not saying this is definitely one of those times - I don’t have a crystal ball, and I really, really like Djed - but it could be.
To make it clear, though, this writer’s preference is to keep Djed Spence very much where he is; and maybe that’s what happens. We’ll see!