Why Djed Spence’s transfer to Inter for £25m makes sense for all parties

In many ways, this has been the summer of Djed Spence.

Making Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the World Cup was a major achievement when you bear in mind he almost left Tottenham Hotspur in summer 2024 after a five-month loan at Genoa, only for the Italian club to decline to take up an £8.5million option to sign him permanently.

But in North America across this June and July, Spence became a household name, charming fans back home with his desire to defend, game-changing cameos from the bench and a reserved charisma in interviews.

One tackle he made on Giuliano Simeone in the 2-1 semi-final defeat to Argentina (below) remains among the highlights of the tournament for England fans, with the cheers across the nation for that moment as loud as they were for Anthony Gordon’s goal earlier in the match.

(Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)

Many Spurs fans were looking forward to giving Spence a hero’s welcome upon his return to north London as a newly-minted international star. However, just as his career enters its most exciting phase, the Tottenham chapter of it has now closed.

The north Londoners have agreed to send the 26-year-old back to Serie A for in the region of €30million (around £25.6m; $34.6m). Only this time, he is going to the Italian champions, Inter, underscoring how rapidly his reputation has grown in the game in the two years since that Genoa loan.

It is a transfer that has split opinions within the Tottenham fanbase, centred on that fee. “International stars” in the prime of their careers and with several years remaining on their contract (three in this case) at a ‘Big Six’ club in the Premier League don’t tend to move for anything less than £60million, to be conservative. So to receive less than half of that for Spence seems, at best, incongruous.

But as much as Spence thrilled over the summer, his current perceived standing in the game does not entirely reflect his standing at Spurs — and for that reason, this is a deal that makes sense for all parties.

In an interview with the BBC during the World Cup, Spence said he “prefers” right-back, because it’s his “natural” position. In a separate conversation with UK newspaper The Guardian during the tournament, he said he is still learning to play left-back, having deputised frequently in that role since Tottenham’s then head coach Ange Postecoglou plucked him from the cold amid an injury crisis in late 2024.

Unfortunately, Pedro Porro, fresh off starting all six games as Spain won the World Cup, was in his way as the club’s first-choice right-back. If Spence left the States last month as a breakout star, Porro asserted his claim to being one of, if not the, best right-backs in the world, playing a crucial role as Spain’s men earned their second world-champions’ star for their shirts.

Typically a standout performer for Spurs irrespective of the team’s wider struggles, Porro took his game to another level this summer when playing within a settled, possession-heavy system under Luis de la Fuente, and was recognised for his outstanding performances with selection to the tournament’s all-star team.

Tottenham rewarded Porro with a bumper long-term contract extension a few days into the World Cup, which now ranks as one of their shrewdest moves of the summer, owing to his footballing connection and personal bond with their head coach Roberto De Zerbi, who described him as “the best right-back in the world” in an interview with reporters during the recent pre-season tour to New Zealand and Australia.

A champion’s return for our Pedro pic.twitter.com/CDLBpCWZuM

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) August 13, 2026

As well as potentially being their best player, Porro is also Tottenham’s most durable star.

Amid the season-wrecking injury crises that have haunted them over recent years, the now 26-year-old has racked up the most minutes and most appearances, only missing one month in January and February this year due to a hamstring injury.

Put plainly, if Spence was going to play right-back for Spurs, he would have to unseat a player the club’s performance staff believe is a physical outlier and who De Zerbi ranks as the world’s best in that position.

Sure, he could be a perfectly serviceable backup for Porro, but in the prime of his career, coming off a tournament where he made his name, perhaps Tottenham owe him the chance to try to be something more than that.

Never in his four years in north London, which also includes loans to Rennes in France and Leeds United, has Spence been first-choice at his preferred position. He didn’t even get the chance to occupy it during Porro’s absence earlier this year as he was needed to fill in on the left. Only 10 of his 59 starts for Tottenham came at right-back or right wing-back.

(Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)

That’s before you consider that he is not a natural fit for De Zerbi, who directed Porro to push into midfield and occupy the right half-space across his seven-game stint in charge at the end of last season, amplifying his technical ability and close control. This role is at odds with Spence, who is more comfortable as a dribbler, operating closer to the touchline.

It is not yet clear whether Spurs will target a replacement, but finding a backup on the continent who has a similar profile to De Zerbi’s first-choice, perhaps not as accomplished or skilled but content to play a squad-rotation role, should be fairly straightforward. For reference, Bournemouth have signed right-back Juanlu Sanchez from Sevilla for around €11million in this window, while proven Premier League left-back Lucas Digne left Aston Villa for Paris Saint-Germain in a deal worth between €7million and €8m.

Their left-back situation?

Aside from Spence’s stated preference to play on his natural side, Spurs have recruited two new left-backs in 2026, one of whom is Andy Robertson, a Premier League and Champions League winner with Liverpool. He will also be competing for that spot in the team with Destiny Udogie, a natural left-sider who is more comfortable receiving the ball on his stronger side and progressing attacks.

Udogie’s patchy injury record is a concern, but with Robertson, Souza (the now 20-year-old Brazilian signed from Santos in January) and even Micky van de Ven, a centre-back at club level who typically plays left-back for the Netherlands, as backup, a lack of numbers in that position need not be a consideration.

And as he said himself recently, Spence is still learning the position. In that interview with The Guardian mentioned above, he said, “Going forward is a bit different playing on the left because it’s not my natural side.”

While he remains an excellent one-v-one defender irrespective of which flank he is deployed on, Spence prefers to dribble with his right foot, which limits angles and can close off the pitch, and is not a consistently accurate crosser on his weaker foot.

If fans and reporters who watch Tottenham consistently can fairly unanimously recognise these as weaknesses for Spence on the left, data analytics and scouting teams from the Premier League and across Europe can, too. So while the fee Spurs are getting may seem minimal in the context of the World Cup, it’s worth remembering that it probably would not have felt particularly low before it.

Though there are exceptions, football’s recruiting departments largely draw their list of summer targets based on performances at club level, not the international game, and Spence has been in and out of a Tottenham side that has struggled badly in the league over the past two seasons.

So while debates continue about whether they could have squeezed another €10million out of a team somewhere on the continent or even in the Premier League, Spence now embarks on a new challenge, playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world who have been a Champions League knockout-phase fixture for years.

And if Tottenham end up regretting it, either because Porro suffers an unlikely injury or Spence goes to another level in Milan, at least they will have helped him on his way to finally becoming the main man in his favoured position, as he helped them on their way to Europa League final glory in 2025.