Neil Warnock is confident that reported Everton, Newcastle United and Wolves target Djed Spence has the ability to play for a ‘top’ Premier League club if he fulfils his potential, as he told Teesside Live.
It is four successive clean sheets now for a Boro side who, 12 months ago, were shipping goals at an alarming rate under Jonathan Woodgate.
The hugely experienced Warnock has unsurprisingly transformed Middlesbrough’s defensive record, with 20-year-old Spence becoming a vital piece in the Riverside jigsaw.
The highly-rated full-back was arguably the best player on the pitch during a goalless draw with free-scoring Blackburn Rovers in midweek and impressed again during another 0-0 away at Brentford on Saturday.
“I think there’s so much more he could do,” Warnock said of a man he previously compared to Liverpool assist-machine Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“There are not many players where you can say it’s all up to them personally how far they go – it’s what’s between the ears. He could be playing at a top club in England or in non-league in five years, I don’t know.
“Application, dedication, all these things come into it. He’s got the tools, there’s no doubt about that.”
TEAMtalk reported last week that Everton, Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton Wanderers are watching Spence closely.
The Northern Echo, meanwhile, claims that Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is once again looking to bring young, homegrown talent to St James’ Park with the Tyneside giants planning a controversial raid of their near neighbours.
But, as Warnock himself says, Spence is far from the finished article and still has a lot to learn.
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