Djed Spence: Stay and Fight for Spurs
Roberto De Zerbi has spent the summer tearing into Tottenham’s squad with a “shark” mentality. Now he is trying to persuade one of his most intriguing players not to swim away.
De Zerbi’s message to Spence: stay and fight
Djed Spence, 25, sits right on the fault line between Spurs’ turbulent recent past and their wildly expensive rebuild. He signed a long-term deal only last year, started 23 of his 30 Premier League games as Tottenham clung to safety on the final day, and yet his future is already in doubt.
Inter Milan and Everton are circling. De Zerbi is pushing back.
“I repeat what I said to Djed, and to Lucas [Bergvall],” the Italian said, referencing his stance on the in-demand Sweden midfielder. “I would like you to stay if you want to stay. If you don’t want to stay, if you want to leave, then you have to leave.”
No sugar-coating. No promises. Stay if you’re all in. Go if you’re not.
The complication for Spence is obvious. His preferred right-back slot belongs, emphatically, to Pedro Porro. De Zerbi did not just back the Spaniard. He elevated him.
Porro, he said, is the “best in the world” in that role.
For a defender trying to secure his place with England and at club level, that is both a challenge and a warning. Spurs may want Spence. They have also just spent a club-record £237m reshaping the squad of a team that finished 17th for the second year running. Sentiment will not save anyone.
A ruthless rebuild
Tottenham’s summer has been loud, aggressive and expensive.
The club smashed their transfer record twice in 48 hours earlier this month: first £85m to prise Mateus Fernandes from West Ham, then £100m for Sandro Tonali from Newcastle. Jan Paul van Hecke arrived from Brighton for £52m, while Marcos Senesi, Andrew Robertson and Martin Dubravka came in on free transfers, adding experience and edge.
De Zerbi insists this is only part of the plan. “The transfer market is not finished for sure, but we have completed 60% of our project. Now we have another ‘bomba’,” he said in Sydney.
Pressed on whether that bomb would be a winger or a striker, he cut the answer down to a single word: “Attackers.”
He does not believe in fallback options. “I don’t love working with plan A, plan B, plan C. It is plan A, full stop, because all players are not the same. We have to increase the number of goals.”
Tottenham, starved of cutting edge and confidence last season, are being rebuilt with a manager who speaks like a man in a hurry. His own description of his work this summer was simple: he has been “like a shark” in the market.
Romero, Vicario and the exit door
Aggression in recruitment has been matched by clarity over who is heading out.
Club captain Cristian Romero is among those expected to leave. The Argentina defender was criticised after flying home while injured before the final game of the season, only to return and play. De Zerbi refused to let that narrative stick.
He called the criticism wrong and highlighted Romero’s “unbelievable behaviour” since his arrival. At the same time, he did not deny the defender’s intentions. It is “his will” to move on.
The Italian pulled back the curtain on how those decisions were shaped when he walked into a club in crisis in April.
“At the beginning of my time in April I had, I don’t know, one million individual meetings. And the players told me if they are (staying) here (or not),” he said.
His response to them was blunt, almost survivalist. “I said: ‘Yes, help me to stay up, and then I help you to leave. If you don’t help me to stay up, you stay underwater with me.’”
They stayed up. Some will now cash in that promise.
Among them is likely to be Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who lost his place to Antonin Kinsky and is also expected to depart. Another symbol of the old era, quietly being moved aside as De Zerbi builds a squad in his own image.
Spurs at a crossroads
So Tottenham stand here: one of Europe’s biggest spenders, a manager with a clear voice and a sharper edge, a dressing room being turned over at speed.
Spence’s situation captures the tension. A long-term contract, a manager who rates him, but a world-class rival in his position and heavyweight clubs ready to offer a new start.
De Zerbi has laid out the terms. Commitment or the door.
Spurs have already paid heavily to escape the fear of relegation. The next question is whether this rebuilt squad – and players like Djed Spence – are ready to pay the price required to drag the club back towards the top.
