Forgotten man Spence needs a new adviser
DJED SPENCE started for England’s Under 21s in Italy yesterday. Remember him? Broke into the Middlesbrough side, fell out of favour with Neil Warnock, then had a storming loan spell helping to win promotion with Nottingham Forest. He looked one of the brightest prospects in the country. Then he moved to Tottenham. The money aside, he might as well have moved to Hawaii.
The suggestion is Spence wasn’t Antonio Conte’s signing. He was a bright young player the club identified and recruited. Yet now he’s behind Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty for the right-back spot and has played a single minute of club football all season, as an 89th-minute substitute against Nottingham Forest.
Spence is 22. Someone advised him this was a smart move, just as someone advised Kalvin Phillips to sign for Manchester City.
And those people are still in jobs. It’s just that
Spence and Phillips no longer do theirs.