Credit: Rio Ferdinand Presents and Imago

Daniel Lewis

Tue 14 April 2026 20:40, UK

Rio Ferdinand clearly has not watched much of Tottenham Hotspur this season amid a bizarre transfer take on Djed Spence.

The England international has featured 38 times for Spurs in what has been a diabolical campaign, which is now being overseen by Roberto De Zerbi.

Spence has by no means by Spurs’ worst performer this campaign, but nor has he been anywhere at the levels expected.

Tottenham are plummeting towards the Championship, with their winless run now spanning 14 matches in the Premier League.

That could mean players being poached on the cheap this summer, and Ferdinand would like to see Spence snapped up by his former side Manchester United.

Rio Ferdinand names two Tottenham players he’d take at Man United

Ferdinand was asked on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast if there were any Tottenham players from the current squad he would like to see at Old Trafford.

“Not right now, no. I can’t think of any that I’d take, especially the way they’re playing now,” he initially said.

However, Ferdinand did go on to say: “Micky van de Ven, maybe. Van de Ven and Djed Spence, actually. Djed Spence.”

Van de Ven just seems to be an automatic pick when this question is asked of pundits, while Cristian Romero is another name regularly mentioned.

Spence’s name is a new one, though, albeit he did recently get a chance to impress at international level for England and that will only see his stock rise.

However, there can be no denying Spence has underwhelmed this campaign. Indeed, as per Sofascore, Spence has only been Spurs’ 13th-best performer this campaign statistically speaking.

The 25-year-old has played the fifth-most league minutes of any player in the squad (1,808), but he has yet to register a goal or assist and has been part of one of the division’s worst defences.

Spence’s 0.38 interceptions per 90 minutes is, rather remarkably, the fourth lowest of any player in the Tottenham team – this for a defender, remember.

He also ranks pretty much only halfway for tackles won per 90 with 1.15. For context, Pedro Porro averages 1.35.

Further bad news could come for Spence under Roberto De Zerbi

Spence was not used by De Zerbi in his first game in charge, with that a 1-0 loss away at Sunderland on Sunday.

De Zerbi’s preferred setup is bad news for Spence, in fact, as the Italian likes his full-backs – or wing-backs – to get up the pitch.

Given Spence has created just 10 chances from 24 league appearances this term, which ranks him below halfway in the percentile among defenders, he is clearly not that type of player.

This is not to say Spence is a bad player. In fact, if Tottenham were to stay up, keeping the Englishman will be key in pushing on.

But to suggest he is good enough to play for a team currently third in the Premier League just seems like a bizarre take.