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When those who know Djed Spence well talk about his unusual career pathway, one word comes up more than any other – “relaxed”.
And if you watch clips of Spence being interviewed by Rio Ferdinand on Rio Ferdinand’s Five podcast, wearing large dark sunglasses and speaking softly with long pauses before and during his answers, it seems a description that makes sense.
But has the Tottenham defender’s apparently laid-back outlook on life held him back? After all a series of experienced managers have overlooked the 24-year-old, including current Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou until an injury crisis appeared to force his hand.
Spence thinks not. Instead he celebrates his faith and praises the virtue of being patient with Instagram posts including phrases such as “All things take time”.
In February, after scoring his first Premier League goal in Spurs’ win at Ipswich, Spence wrote on X: “A kid who had the wildest dreams to play in the Premier League. A kid who had the wildest dreams to score in the Premier League. That dream came true. NEVER stop believing in your dreams and trust in God.”
How important has Spence become to Spurs?
Before 15 December, Spence had played just 64 minutes of Premier League football this season. Since, he has completed 90 minutes in 19 of Spurs’ 22 league games.
The transformation is stark. At first, Spence was so far down Postecoglou’s pecking order he was not even included in the squad for the Europa League group stage, coming in for the knockout stages.
His has been one of the most compelling individual stories this season – a breakthrough at age 24 that comes comparatively late for a top-flight footballer. Such has been his rise, there was clamour for him to feature in Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad last month.
‘The manager was having none of it’
Spence came through Fulham’s academy but signed his first professional contract with Middlesbrough in July 2018, then making his senior debut for the Championship club in the 2019-20 season.
He showed flashes of his talent at Riverside Stadium, but, in a pattern that would repeat, he found himself out of manager Neil Warnock’s core plans and was allowed him to join then-Championship rivals Nottingham Forest on loan.
It was a gift for Forest, who were promoted that season with Spence named in the Championship team of the year for 2021-22 having made 39 league appearances. His form persuaded Spurs to spend £20 million and bring him back to his hometown of London.
Middlesbrough sporting director Kieran Scott, speaking to BBC Sport about why they allowed such a talent to slip away, admitted he had been a huge fan of Spence – scouting him for former club Norwich before moving to Boro.
“I liked his athletic profile,” he said. “I’d actually put Djed forward at Norwich.
“He hadn’t played that many games at that point because he started under Woody (ex-Boro manager Jonathan Woodgate) and didn’t play many games for Warnock.
“I came into Middlesbrough and I liked him but the manager at the time didn’t so I stepped in and got him a loan.
“He chose to go to Forest under Chris Hughton, then obviously Steve Cooper came in and took Djed to a new level.
“Chris Wilder came in [as Boro manager] and there was a clamour for Djed to be recalled but as a club, we made a decision that Djed would stay at Forest where he was doing really well.
Dealing with ‘brick wall’ Conte
Scott though admits he had some concerns about the move for Spence.
“He was a bit relaxed,” Scott recalls. “I did initially fear Spurs might be a little bit too much – but fair play, he’s hung in there.”
Antonio Conte was manager at Tottenham when Spence joined in summer 2022, but what should have been the biggest move of his career soon turned sour as personalities clashed.
“It wasn’t a nice feeling,” Spence told Ferdinand for the podcast. “I was coming to the club on a high, I was confident, I was buzzing, had just won promotion. Then it was like running into a brick wall.
“I knew it was rubbish at the time. It wasn’t a nice feeling. I feel like whatever I did, that man [Conte] wasn’t happy about anything. He’s not really a complimenting guy.”
Watching parts of Spence’s chat with Ferdinand, you can perhaps make easy assumptions about why a blood and thunder coach like Conte may not immediately take to Spence’s more laidback demeanour off the pitch.
Yet some of his answers suggest an ambition and steeliness which explain how he has recovered from so many knockbacks to prove himself at Spurs and be talked of as a possible England international.
‘He learned a lot in those loans’
Spence has international experience, playing six times for the under-21s after being given his debut by Lee Carsley in March 2022 against Albania.
Carsley wanted to take Spence to the European Championship in 2023, where the England under-21s triumphed by beating Spain in the final but injury ruled him out of the tournament.
To Carsley, Spence’s rise to prominence is no surprise.
“I love Djed. I think he’s such a good player,” Carsley told BBC Sport. “So exciting, so attacking, athletic, a quiet guy but humble.
“He’s got so many attributes, the way he can drive and dribble with the ball, score, create, defend. He’s a player that there’s no ceiling where he could go.
“I think he just needs to keep being confident in himself. Like a lot of the players, they need that opportunity and they need that support. It’s great to watch him now because he’s doing so well.”
With Spence finding regular club minutes hard to come by, a series of loans around Europe, at Rennes, Leeds and Genoa followed but they yielded mixed results.
But according to Scott, that could have been the making of him, adding: “He’s had his loans and he’s probably learned a lot from them.”
‘Never stop believing in your dreams’
After a year and a half of tough love around the continent, Spence returned to a Spurs side now under the management of Postecoglou – and seems to have finally found a manager with who he has a close relationship.
After a 1-0 loss to Bournemouth in December, Spence dragged Postecoglou away from an element of angry away support. He also defended the coach when asked about his initial absence from the Europa League squad.
“He’s the manager of the football club, you know. He’s the manager and we are a team and a family,” Spence said of the Australian.
Some of Spence’s most eye-catching performances this season have come against elite right-sided players who like to cut in from the wing.
With his mix of physicality, athleticism, defensive ability and attacking skill, aligned with his right-footedness, the man who was a few months ago a Spurs outcast now seems well adapted to the demands of being a Premier League left-back or left wing-back.
“His athleticism is so natural, he can play in the Premier League just purely down to what he’s born with and he can play football, he’s got ability,” says Scott.
“I’m not shocked to see him playing ability-wise, it was just more down to application. He’s got it right and it’s working well and he’s got to stay at that level.
“I always thought he had the ability to play in the Premier League. Not many players can run as fast as him for as long as him and just can keep doing it.
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