Tottenham News Scout: Tottenham should keep Djed Spence and give him a chance under Ange Postecoglou
Tottenham News is delighted to welcome Matthew Chadder as our exclusive columnist for our ‘Spurs Scout’ features. Each week, he’ll be providing his expertise on researching players to give insight on the biggest talking points at Spurs…
The right-back situation at Tottenham has been a fascinating one since Kyle Walker left North London for Manchester and joined Pep Guardiola’s City side in 2017.
Since then, eight right-backs have tried to fill the role that Walker left behind. Yet time after time the position has proven to be a curse for anyone who would dare attempt to take it on
Serge Aurier, who was signed for a reported fee of £23million as Walker’s direct replacement (BBC Sport, 31 August 2017) would eventually see his contract terminated by mutual consent after a relatively unsuccessful four-year stay at the club (Sky Sports, 1 September 2022).
Kieran Trippier, who acted as Walker’s understudy before he left, was the man competing with Auirer for the right-back spot, and he also eventually left for a challenge overseas, joining Atletico Madrid in 2019.
Juan Foyth and Kyle Walker-Peters both had spells at right-back during their times at the club but would also never quite make the position their own, with Foyth following in Trippier’s footsteps and heading to Spain, joining Villarreal in 2021. Walker-Peters, who graduated through the Tottenham academy, had quit the club a year earlier and joined Southampton.
A revolving door of right-backs continued to spin at Hotspur Way following the departure of Walker-Peters, starting with Mat Doherty who joined the same summer he left, before Emerson Royal arrived in 2021, Djed Spence in 2022 and Pedro Porro in January of 2023.
Doherty would face the same fate as Aurier, seeing his contract torn up in January 2023, after Porro’s arrival (Sky Sports News), and now just Royal, Porro and Spence remain at the club.
Although it seems three could soon become two as Daniel Levy’s pattern of sending right-backs on their way appears to have not yet been broken. As reported by Sky Sports News (8 August, 14:50 PM), Tottenham are willing to listen to offers for Spence, who they signed just one year ago from Championship club Middlesborough.
Here, Spurs Scout has had a look at whether or not Spence deserves a chance to show what he is capable of under Ange Postecoglou or if he should be the latest right-back to pack his bags.
Superpower – Getting forward
Spence is a pacey, powerful and explosive right-back who looks to cause problems in the final third. He is not a player who is going to sit back and defend which might be part of the reason he struggled to make an impact for Antonio Conte.
As per fbref, while on loan at Nottingham Forest during the 2021/22 season, the English full-back was a stand-out performer in the Championship. The 22-year-old was in the top one per cent for progressive carries compared to his positional peers in the division (4.35 per 90). This is ideal for Postecoglou as the Australian has already demonstrated in pre-season that he prefers to operate with wide wingers to allow space in the inside channels for his full-backs to burst into.
Spence was also in the top two per cent for his total carrying distance (267.54 yards per 90) and the top three per cent for his progressive carrying distance (140.21 yards per 90.) All these numbers are a perfect match with his new manager’s style.
In the below image, Spence has the ball inside his own half and is faced one on one with his opponent.
Moments later, the flying full-back has beaten his man and carried the ball deep into the opposition’s half.
While these numbers and performances are of course from two seasons ago, and some supporters might suggest these are outdated, his quality was still on display during moments last season.
While at Rennes, in his limited minutes on the pitch, Spence still showed he has what it takes going forward, ranking in the top eight per cent of Ligue 1 full-backs for his number of take-ons (4.24 per 90) and completing 2.36 of these take-ons per 90, impressively positioning him in the 98th percentile.
Weakness – Defensive ability
For all of the England Under-21 international’s brilliance going forward, his defensive numbers tell a completely different story.
In the same season that he was tearing forward with Nottingham Forest and helping the Reds on their way to Premier League promotion via the Play-Off final at Wembley, his performances at the back were shaky, to say the least.
As per fbref, the right-back was in the 20th percentile for the number of tackles that he made (1.47 per 90) and the 37th percentile for the number of those tackles that he won (1.02 per 90). As well as this, he was in the bottom 36 per cent of his positional peers in England’s second division when it came to the number of tackles he made in the defensive third (0.85 per 90), middle third (0.50 per 90) and attacking third (0.12 per 90).
While Spence is a threat when faced one-on-one with his opponent with the ball at his feet, when the roles are reversed, he is not so confident. He was in the bottom 20 per cent of Championship full-backs during the 2021/22 season for the number of dribbles he challenged (1.14 per 90) and the number of dribblers he tackles (0.62 per 90).
Where would Spence fit in at Spurs?
While some fans might suggest that Royal and Porro should be the two starting right-backs for Postecoglou this season, therefore leaving Spence out of the picture, an argument could be made that Spence is more suited to his new manager’s system than Royal is.
Postecoglou prefers his full-backs to get forward and cause issues in the final third, something which Royal has not demonstrated the ability to do during his Tottenham career so far, with the 24-year-old much better in the defensive areas.
According to fbref, last season Royal was in the bottom 60 per cent of Premier League full-backs for his total carrying distance (183.70 yards per 90), his carries into the final third (1.56 per 90) and his carries into the opposition penalty area (0.25 per 90).
Spence would perhaps, therefore, be a better rotational option with Porro to suit the needs of Postecoglou.
How much could Spurs get for Spence?
While no fee has been reported for Spence, according to the Daily Mail (8 August), the youngster could be in line for a sensational return to the City Ground with Spurs preparing to offer him alongside Joe Rodon in exchange for Brennan Johnson, who is valued at £50million.
This would suggest those at Tottenham value him at somewhere around the £20million mark, which is the fee they paid for him just 12 months ago.
Whether or not they can get anywhere close to that kind of money for a player who has hardly played any football over the past year remains to be seen.
Should Tottenham sell Spence?
Overall it wouldn’t make much sense for the club to give up on a signing they made just one year ago with the player still possessing plenty of potential.
It is hard to imagine that Levy would want to make much of a loss after spending £20million, although it is also difficult to see Spurs getting that sort of fee for the player at this moment in time.
And with Spence a right-back who could thrive under Postecoglou when playing regularly and with confidence, he is someone worth keeping around for at least another year.
After all, they can’t afford to make yet another mistake in the right-back department.
In other Tottenham News, John Wenham believes the club should resist selling another player this summer.