Jose Mourinho has reportedly wanted to sign Middlesbrough’s Djed Spence since 2018 but a Premier League switch to Spurs will have to wait.
Djed Spence looks unlikely to be joining Tottenham Hotspur any time soon with the highly-rated full-back signing a new two-and-a-half-year new contract at Middlesbrough, as reported by the club’s official website.
Say what you want about Jose Mourinho’s track record when it comes to young players, a London-born 19-year-old has been in the sights of Spurs’ Portuguese tactician for the best part of two years now.
According to the Standard, the former Chelsea boss has been keeping tabs on Spence ever since he was released by Fulham in the summer of 2018.
With Spence shining during a January FA Cup clash between Tottenham and Middlesbrough, the teenager did his chances of a life-changing move to North London no harm at all.
Speaking to the Teesside Gazette, the energetic right-back even admitted that he was flattered to see his name linked with a move to Tottenham in the gossip columns.
But rather than sit on the bench at Spurs, it seems that Spence will be playing first-team football at the Riverside until 2022.
“We’re delighted to get Djed tied down for a longer period,” head coach Jonathan Woodgate, a former Spurs defender of course, told the club’s website.
“He has done exceptionally well since he came into the team. He earned the right, and he knows he has to keep working hard.
“We speak a lot and he knows the standards he has set, the standards we expect, and that he has to keep listening, keep working, and keep improving. Djed is a great young talent.”
If Spence continues to progress at this rate, there is no reason to believe that he will not be wearing that famous white shirt within the next few years.
The arch-pragmatist Mourinho has no appetite for mistakes and, after Serge Aurier gave away yet another penalty against Manchester City on Sunday, one of the Premier League’s most erratic full-backs could be ripe for the chop sooner rather than later.
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