In an interview with ITV after England’s dramatic 3-2 win over Mexico in the World Cup’s last 16, Djed Spence was asked whether Thomas Tuchel is tougher on him than anyone else in the squad.
With a chuckle, Spence replied, “Yes”. Having watched head coach Tuchel scream the Tottenham Hotspur full-back’s name from the sidelines during the 0-0 group-stage draw with Ghana, or maniacally bark at him for not throwing the ball forward in the 2-1 win over the Democratic Republic of Congo in the round of 32, his response was hardly surprising.
But what Spence said next is a better reflection of their relationship and why he is thriving in an England shirt at this World Cup under the German.
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“He likes me, I guess,” the 25-year-old said when ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke asked why Tuchel continues to single him out. “Perspectives. It depends how you want to look at it.
“Maybe he believes I can do more. Maybe he believes I can reach new heights, new levels.”
From the outside, Tuchel’s critical fixation on Spence may appear unfair, or even slightly nasty. But the defender has experienced the exact opposite at club level, causing his career to meander and stall for several years before rebuilding momentum over the past 18 months at Tottenham, and Tuchel’s tough love is proving precisely what he needs.
Jude Bellingham embraces Spence at the end of England’s victory over Norway (Masashi Hara/Getty Images)
Spence emerged into the national footballing conscience in early 2022, when he was electric as Nottingham Forest, then in the second-tier Championship, beat Premier League visitors Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup.
In front of a terrestrial television audience on ITV, a 21-year-old Spence was outstanding as a right wing-back for Steve Cooper-managed Forest, earning the man-of-the-match award and plaudits from Arsenal legend Ian Wright. Wright was recorded on the pitch after the game telling Spence, “You’re supposed to be in the Premier League. You can’t play at that level and not be in the Premier League.”
He was outstanding as Forest marched to promotion into the top flight via the play-offs a few months later, and celebrated with a post on X aimed at Neil Warnock, the manager who had sent him on loan to Forest from parent club Middlesbrough earlier that season after a dispute. Warnock questioned Spence’s attitude and aptitude when they worked together at the Riverside Stadium, suggesting he’d either play in the Premier League or in non-League (the fifth tier of English football and below) but he appeared to put those criticisms to bed over a stellar season at the City Ground.
In celebrating Forest’s promotion, Spence posted an image on Twitter of him holding the play-off trophy with a cigar in his mouth, captioned “Oh, Where’s my Manners! Welcome to Twitter @warnockofficial,” after his former boss had recently joined the social-media site.
He had plenty of suitors in the summer of 2022 after returning to Middlesbrough from his loan, eventually joining Tottenham for around £20million, marking a return to London for Spence, having grown up in the south of the nation’s capital. But if Forest served as an environment where he was cared for and nurtured, he found no such love in north London under Spurs’ then new head coach Antonio Conte.
Conte essentially disowned Spence from the start, describing him as an “investment of the club” and a “club signing”. After just six months and less than 10 combined minutes of action across four league appearances from the bench, Spence was sent out on loan to Rennes in France’s Ligue 1, without having had the chance to prove himself as a Premier League player.
Spence struggled for first-team action in his early years at Spurs (Jon Hobley/Getty Images)
“It wasn’t a nice feeling,” Spence told the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast. “Especially as I was coming to the club on a high; I was confident, I was buzzing, had just won promotion. Then it was like running into a brick wall. It shattered my confidence a bit; obviously, I’m young. It’s not nice to hear.”
Ange Postecoglou became Tottenham head coach in summer 2023 and also sent Spence out on loan, to Leeds United — a return to the English game’s second tier. After an unsuccessful four-month stay marred by injury and concerns over his time-keeping ended with the Yorkshire club sending Spence back to them prematurely in the January, Spurs were ready to cut ties with the full-back, agreeing to send him to Genoa of Serie A on another loan for the rest of that season, this one including an £8.5million option to buy.
The Italian side opted not to take up the option at the end of his time there — which turned out to be a blessing in disguise for both Tottenham and Postecoglou.
Amid an injury crisis in the 2024-25 campaign, Postecoglou turned to Spence at a time when he had few alternatives.
At that point, Spence felt a million miles away from a regular Premier League starting berth, let alone a first England call-up, never mind an eventual selection in a 26-man World Cup squad.
After waiting 881 days from joining Tottenham, Spence finally made his first start for them on December 15, 2024, and assisted for James Maddison inside the first minute of a dominant 5-0 win against Southampton. While he has not been a regular starter, competing with internationals including Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie for minutes, Spence has established himself as a core member of Spurs’ playing group, with an impressive fitness record and the ability to play on either side of the back line.
Spence enjoying a joke during a World Cup media conference (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Yet there’s a sense that, until very recently, he had not entirely won over English football. For that, he bears some responsibility.
In an interview with UK radio station Talksport, Warnock said, “You can’t say (Leeds manager) Daniel Farke, myself and Conte were all wrong (about Spence),” and he’s probably right.
Last season, Spence and team-mate Micky van de Ven ignored then Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank’s instruction to applaud the home fans on the pitch after a poor 1-0 defeat to Chelsea, and walked straight down the tunnel to their dressing room. It was a move criticised by Tuchel, who said he “didn’t like it” and later spoke to Spence about the responsibilities of being an England player.
Sources, who prefer to remain anonymous to protect relationships, recognise that Spence is an introverted character who can come across as quite aloof, and that this image may not help his cause in moments like these.
While he has been a regular inclusion in Tuchel’s England squads since winning the first of his 13 caps in a 5-0 win over Malta last September, an inconsistent season at club level meant he was somewhat of a surprise call-up for this tournament.
Tuchel justified his selection by describing him as the fastest player in the squad and a one-v-one defensive specialist, but with more decorated alternatives including Real Madrid’s former Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold or more in-form full-backs such as Newcastle’s Lewis Hall and Luke Shaw of Manchester United in reserve, some critics viewed it as an odd, perhaps even undeserved choice.
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In that same interview with ITV, Spence also conceded that he is probably the most relaxed player in the England camp, but that should not be interpreted as uninterested or disengaged.
It was notable that when Clarke asked if the win over Mexico was the best moment of his career, he put it alongside his England debut and winning the Europa League with Tottenham in 2025. He described John Terry’s iconic “floor header” for England against Slovenia in the 2010 World Cup as a “core memory” of being a football fan.
He is also the first Muslim player to play for England’s senior side, and accepts responsibility as a trailblazer to “inspire young kids around the world that they can make it as well”.
While you may have to read between the lines more than you would for Harry Kane or Jude Bellingham, who speak confidently and at length about their national pride, it is very apparent how much playing for his country means to Spence, who has spent his whole professional career overcoming doubters. And that passion has shone through at the World Cup, where he has been outstanding from the bench.
He was involved in the fourth goal in the opening 4-2 win over Croatia, but his outings in the knockout stages have been even more impressive, defending heroically against Mexico in the last 16 before a dominant cameo to help fend off Norway on Saturday.
Spence praying after England win their World Cup quarter-final against Norway (Marvin Ibo Guengoer/Getty Images)
He has loosened up in front of the travelling media, too, conducting interviews with broadcasters and even gatecrashing a press conference, presenting himself as a “trainee reporter” to jokingly ask Morgan Rogers whether he was the fastest player in the squad. He is close to Justin Cochrane, one of Tuchel’s assistants, with whom Spence worked when he was a member of Frank’s staff at Tottenham.
In a tournament where history and legacy are at stake, Spence appears to be enjoying life on and off the pitch more than ever.
So if Spence gets the nod against Argentina in Wednesday’s semi-final and you spot Tuchel barking instructions from the touchline, know it’s probably what he needs, and exactly what he wants.
