Barring a last-minute collapse in negotiations, Djed Spence is on course to complete his remarkable journey from Middlesbrough outcast to Tottenham right wing-back in the space of 12 transformative months.
The 21-year-old will be greeted by a familiar face at Hotspur Way when he does finally complete his protracted move back to London; Ryan Sessegnon was his team-mate during their youth team days at Fulham.
Their diverging paths to the top provides a case study in how footballers mature and develop at different times. Four summers ago, Sessegnon was basking in Fulham’s Championship promotion-winning campaign in which he had played a significant part; Spence, 83 days his junior, meanwhile, was released while two other right-backs (including Ryan’s twin brother Steven) were kept on and joined ‘Boro.
Compared to Sessegnon, the typical teenage prodigy, Spence was something of a late bloomer. But both will start next season from a roughly equal footing, competing for minutes as wing-backs in Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3 system alongside experienced internationals.
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It will cap a whirlwind ascent for Spence, who was sent on loan to Nottingham Forest by then Boro manager Neil Warnock in last summer’s transfer window.
“He always had the ability,” Boro legend Stewart Downing tells i. “When he came in at Middlesbrough he started to train with us a little bit from the U23s to the first-team. I was up against him quite a lot because I played on the left and he was at right-back and the first thing that stood out was that he was an athlete, he could get up and down, but he was also comfortable with the ball.
“He’s more of an attacking full-back than a defensive one. Like a Trent Alexander-Arnold type. So I can see why he has been linked to teams like Tottenham.”
Spence made a smattering of appearances under Tony Pulis in the 2018-19 season, but the appointment of Jonathan Woodgate the following campaign led to his breakthrough. “Woodgate was the assistant manager [under Pulis] and I think he quite liked him,” Downing reveals. “Woodgate getting the manager’s job gave him a chance really because he probably would have struggled to get in at that time.”
Spence made 22 appearances for Boro in the Championship that campaign, including 18 starts, but Woodgate’s downfall shortly after Project Restart proved to be the beginning of the end. Although Spence played 38 times under Neil Warnock the following season, his attacking instincts jarred with his manager’s conservatism.
“He wasn’t really a Neil Warnock type player,” Craig Johns, Middlesbrough reporter for the Boro Gazette tells i. “He builds his teams on solid foundations at the back and Spence’s weakness was with the defensive side of his game – he was quite often caught out.
“There were a few off the cuff comments over the season. They’d concede a goal and after the game Warnock would say ‘he was Djed’s man and that he probably didn’t know because he wasn’t paying attention in the team meeting’. I can imagine from Djed Spence’s point of view reading that in the media wasn’t nice. Being a young boy it probably didn’t help his confidence.”
Downing believes there was a “clash of personalities” between the “authoritative” Warnock and the “laid back” Spence. After starting two of Boro’s opening five league games, Spence was loaned out to Forest, initially on a short-term arrangement until January.
By the time the transfer window re-opened, Steve Cooper had been appointed Forest manager and Spence was thriving at the City Ground. Meanwhile, over at Boro, Chris Wilder had replaced Warnock and converted Isaiah Jones into a rampaging right wing-back at the Riverside.
With Spence helping to spearhead Forest’s promotion push under Cooper, Boro’s decision to discard of him drew bemusement from elsewhere.
“I think going to Forest gave him a wake-up call,” Downing says. “He was probably one of Middlesbrough’s best players but somehow found himself out of the door and not wanted.”
Rather than recall Spence, Boro renegotiated better loan terms with Forest for the second half of last season, while also getting him to sign a 12-month extension to his deal until 2024. That has been a significant factor behind this summer’s tortuous negotiations with Spurs.
“Middlesbrough are sticking to profit and sustainability rules in the Championship and Steve Gibson [the club’s long-serving chairman] has been vocal about teams being run sustainably,” Johns says. “So selling somebody like Spence will be a massive help this summer because they will get a big fee and in Jones they’ve already got a ready-made replacement so that money can be reinvested in other areas where its needed.
“I don’t think from Boro’s point of view there’s much regret [about letting him go].”
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“I think it will be a big test for him,” Downing admits. “Forest had a lot of the ball and their system suited him. In the Premier League you might spend large periods without the ball so he’s going to get tested defensively.
“I think the system that Conte plays will help him defensively and he will bring his game on. It’s alright going forward and getting goals and assists but first and foremost his job is to defend and Conte is probably the best manager for him in terms of that side.
“He just needs a manager to guide him and keep him on his toes.”
As his old mate Sessegnon will no doubt attest, Conte will most certainly do that.
Former Liverpool midfielder Stewart Downing was speaking ahead of the 360 Sports TV Masters Cup, taking place on 8 July, available to stream on 360 Sports TV
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