Having been discarded upon arrival by Antonio Conte and overlooked for 18 months by Ange Postecoglou, Djed Spence was staring at the Tottenham exit this month.
He was long since cast as a misfit, written off as another expensive mistake in the transfer market. And yet Spence has become vital as Postecoglou patches up his team and tries to salvage something tangible from the season.
Destiny Udogie is the latest Spurs defender to be felled by injury, ruled out for two months with a torn hamstring, and illness is running through the camp ahead of Saturday lunchtime’s game against Newcastle.
For Spence, it has presented an unexpected final shot at forging a Tottenham career.
‘He’s really knuckled down,’ said Postecoglou. ‘In tough times you get opportunities that may not have happened. The reality is with everyone healthy maybe he wouldn’t have got the opportunity and in January we’d be looking at a different scenario for him.
‘He’s performing really well. He’s very important for us, especially with Destiny going down. Not because he’s available but because he’s played well, made an impact.
Tottenham’s Djed Spence has earned an unexpected final shot at forging a career at the club
The full back, long since cast as a misfit, has become vital under Ange Postecoglou
He joined Spurs for £20m but was shipped out on loan under Postecoglou and Antonio Conte
‘Maybe he senses the opportunity to become not just part of Tottenham on a permanent basis in his own mind where he feels settled, but now pushing to be a starting player and I think he has the capacity to do that.’
Spence, 24, arrived from Middlesbrough in the summer of 2022 in a deal worth up to £20million after a promotion season while on loan at Nottingham Forest but Conte made it abundantly clear he was a ‘club signing’ and did not want him.
Spence went on loan to Rennes and, under Postecoglou, to Leeds and Genoa, looking more the outcast with every move. When omitted from this season’s Europa League squad despite staying at Spurs, it seemed clear that any form of reintegration was limited and that his long-term future would be elsewhere.
Probably still is in truth, but if this is his last chance then Spence is doing all he can to make it count.
‘I don’t think there was something missing,’ said Postecoglou. ‘Maybe in the past he was a little bit impatient. Maybe his attitude wasn’t great in terms of he wasn’t playing and wasn’t feeling like a regular.
‘This year, he’s had to bide his time. He’s done that in the best possible way. Trained hard every day without a lot of prospect of playing. He’s waited for his opportunity.
‘Now when he’s got it, he’s grown. Some of it is maturity as well. He’s not a young boy anymore. He probably feels if he’s going to have a Tottenham career now is the time to grab that. I think he’s done that. He has impressed everyone with his attitude.’
Spence made four starts in 11 days in December. From his first for the club in a 5-0 win at Southampton to the red card in the closing seconds of a Boxing Day defeat at Forest, a second yellow for making a foul to halt a counter-attack.
Spence made four starts in 11 days in December with Spurs hit by a series of injuries
But he was sent off during the defeat by Nottingham Forest after halting a counter-attack
That earned him an early bath and taunts from the home faithful, who used to hail him, of ‘you used to play for a big club’.
Until then, his most notable contributions had been a late equaliser in a Carabao Cup win at Coventry in September and consoling Postecoglou as the Spurs boss came under fire from angry fans after a defeat at Bournemouth.
In the last month though, Spence has been transformed, proving he has lost none of his ability to raid forward fluently from full back, reconnecting with former Forest team-mate Brennan Johnson on the right and deputising ably on the left.
Concerns about his defensive diligence remain – although well camouflaged in a team not designed to defend.
Udogie’s absence – and those of Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Radu Dragusin, Pedro Porro and Ben Davies – means Spence will be involved in a key sequence of fixtures as Tottenham fight to escape the bottom half of the Premier League table and stay in cup competitions as Postecoglou’s position comes under scrutiny.
Illnesses have left the Spurs boss even shorter in training this week but he refused to criticise James Maddison’s decision to attend the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace after being only well enough for the bench in a draw against Wolves, on Sunday.
‘He was due to play but he was sick, so I had to change the team on the day,’ said Postecoglou. ‘I’ve no problem with that and I don’t think it hurt him. He wasn’t 100 per cent and it was a game where we needed someone to be 100 per cent.
‘He was still well enough to play so it wasn’t like he was bed-ridden. If he was bed-ridden and didn’t turn up to the game and then went to the darts there may be an issue there. But I had no issue with that.’
