Djed Spence: ‘Relaxed’ star’s journey from Spurs outcast to key man

Spence has international experience, playing six times for the under-21s after being given his debut by Lee Carsley in March 2022 against Albania.

Carsley wanted to take Spence to the European Championship in 2023, where the England under-21s triumphed by beating Spain in the final but injury ruled him out of the tournament.

To Carsley, Spence’s rise to prominence is no surprise.

“I love Djed. I think he’s such a good player,” Carsley told BBC Sport. “So exciting, so attacking, athletic, a quiet guy but humble.

“He’s got so many attributes, the way he can drive and dribble with the ball, score, create, defend. He’s a player that there’s no ceiling where he could go.

“I think he just needs to keep being confident in himself. Like a lot of the players, they need that opportunity and they need that support. It’s great to watch him now because he’s doing so well.”

With Spence finding regular club minutes hard to come by, a series of loans around Europe, at Rennes, Leeds and Genoa followed but they yielded mixed results.

But according to Scott, that could have been the making of him, adding: “He’s had his loans and he’s probably learned a lot from them.”

Carsley agreed, adding: “It’s sometimes easy to go out on loan and do your developing away from the club. But it looks like he’s definitely found his feet.”