Why Everton fans should be worried by their shock Tottenham transfer link
Everton have been linked with an unexpected bid for a Spurs star - but are they going about their transfer business the right way?
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In the build-up to the summer transfer window, every indication suggested that Everton intended to be more ambitious and aggressive than they had been in years. With the worst of the financial losses from the Farhad Moshiri years behind them, the new owners are in a position to make use of their fiscal firepower – but that’s only good news if they spend the money well.
Plenty of top-flight sides have thrown money around only to be disappointed by the results and there’s a fairly long history of sides whose recruitment skills didn’t match their budgets. Just ask Chelsea how well loose purse strings and an erratic approach to scouting combine.
Everton’s first moves - which include a deal for Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney and the permanent signing of Chelsea loanee Tyrique George - seem sensible enough, but new rumours which suggest that they’ve added Tottenham Hotspur’s Djed Spence to their shortlist as they search for a new right-back might be more concerning, although the reason has little to do with Spence himself…
Why Everton fans should be worried about links to Djed Spence
On Tuesday, both Sky Sports and The Athletic reported that Everton were considering a bid for Spence, who is currently on international duty with England and who played a key role in the Three Lions’ heroic rearguard action at the Estadio Azteca in the small hours of Monday morning.
As it stands, there are no indications that any negotiations have taken place, nor that they are imminent. There is no word on whether Spurs would be prepared to sell the 25-year-old, nor what the asking price might be if they are. A deal is a possibility, and still a relatively distant one.
Spence’s selection for the England squad has made him something of a lightning rod for criticism in past weeks. He was unconvincing, for instance, when he was installed as a right-back against Panama, even if he was excellent after coming on for the closing stages of the win over Mexico.
The fact that he has yet to be convincing on the right of England’s defence is perhaps one reason that Everton should be wary of signing Spence. The Athletic specifically report that it’s the right side of the defence that they’re looking to shore up, unsurprising given that it was a problem position throughout the last year.
Spence is naturally right-footed but more used to playing an inverted role on the left. Of his 44 appearances for Spurs last season, just six involved him playing on the right for any length of time – including, as it happens, during the 1-0 win over Everton that sealed Spurs’ survival on the final day of the season.
Spence has many of the qualities required to be a fine right-back, not least his technical quality and his raw pace, but his relative discomfort in the role can show up in his positioning. If Everton are looking for a long-term right-back, a player in his prime years who is more of a natural on the opposite flank would be a curious choice.
The greater concern, however, may not be the link with Spence but the shape of their alleged shortlist as a whole. If The Athletic’s reporting is accurate, then Everton’s scouting department may not have as clear of a picture of the kind of full-back they need as might be hoped.
Everton’s strange right-back shortlist may be cause for concern
The Athletic suggest that Spence is one of several names under consideration, with two more players mentioned as potential targets: Arsenal’s Ben White and RC Strasbourg’s Guela Doué. None are unreasonable targets in their own right, but all have very different playing profiles and are at different stages of their career.
White, for instance, is 28 and thanks to the laundry list of injuries he’s endured in recent seasons may have limited mileage left on the clock. He’s a fine one-on-one defender and a strong passer of the ball who improves a team’s ability to retain possession but adds relatively limited creativity or threat in the final third.
Compare White to the 23-year-old Doué, elder brother of PSG’s Desiré, a converted centre-back who is a superb technician with a wonderfully accurate cross in his right foot, but who isn’t as precise of a passer and who is a far more aggressive tackler than either White or Spence.
They’re three players who suit different systems, and teams who expect different volumes of attacking output from their full-backs. Scouting all three for the same role raises red flags – the way that David Moyes would use Spence to get the best out of him would be very different to the way that he might need to use Doué or White.
If all three are indeed firmly on Everton’s radar – and it must be stressed that all remain rumoured targets, none of whom are involved in active discussions with the club – then it suggests that there is no clear, overarching recruitment strategy, no tactical blueprint used as a starting point. The similarities end at the point at which all three are right-backs, and even that’s debatable in Spence’s case.
Everton may well end up finding precisely the right player for the job, and it may well be a player who hasn’t been picked up on by the press just yet, but it’s not a good sign when a shortlist seems to be so discombobulated. The club hasn’t really had the opportunity to prove itself in the transfer market since the Friedkin Group took over – we’ll find out if they know what they’re doing soon enough.
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