Liverpool's Search for Full-Back Solutions: Djed Spence Emerges as a Key Option
Liverpool’s summer has been framed as the search for the heir to Mohamed Salah. Quietly, another question has been nagging away in the background: who is actually going to play full-back?
Amid that tension, an unlikely name has muscled its way into the conversation. Djed Spence.
From afterthought to World Cup standout
Scroll back six weeks and the idea of Liverpool moving for Spence would have been dismissed out of hand. Lewis Steele of the Daily Mail, speaking on Anfield Index’s Media Matters, admitted as much.
“If you’d asked me this six weeks ago, I probably would have laughed you out of town because I didn’t really rate Djed Spence too highly at all,” he said.
Then came the World Cup in North America. Spence, long on potential but short on Premier League minutes at Tottenham, has exploded into form for England. He has been one of Gareth Southgate’s most consistent performers, and Steele went further still after the semi-final.
“He’s done brilliantly at the World Cup. I thought he was England’s best player last night [vs Argentina in the semi-finals].”
That kind of tournament changes careers. It also changes transfer plans.
Liverpool’s full-back puzzle
Liverpool’s recruitment focus has been painted as almost exclusively about the forward line. Salah’s eventual replacement dominates headlines, yet Andoni Iraola has a more immediate structural issue to solve.
He needs full-backs. At least one. Realistically, two.
On the left, Milos Kerkez is the coming man, but he cannot carry the load alone. Kostas Tsimikas has returned from his loan at Roma and will be assessed in pre-season, with Iraola running the rule over every option before the window closes on September 1. Even so, there is a sense Liverpool are light on both flanks.
That is where Spence’s profile starts to make sense. Not as a fantasy-name, but as a functional, tactical fit.
“It does make a lot of sense,” Steele explained. “He can play on the right and the left, which is exactly what Liverpool need. I think they’re a left back short. I think they’re a right back short.”
Versatility matters in an Iraola side. His teams press high, push full-backs on, and demand athleticism and aggression in wide areas. A defender comfortable on either flank, battle-hardened by a major tournament, ticks a lot of boxes.
Interest, logic… but no move yet
This is where the story splits in two.
On one side, there is the football logic. TEAMtalk’s Graeme Bailey reported on July 14 that Liverpool and Newcastle are in the mix for Spence, with Tottenham ready to sanction a sale. Inter Milan, though, are seen as the frontrunners, with the Italian giants tracking one of the breakout players of England’s World Cup run.
On the other side, there is the reality of what Liverpool are actually doing.
Steele is clear: he has not heard of any concrete Anfield move.
“I’ve not heard anything really to suggest that Liverpool are going to make a move for him,” he said, even as he laid out the case for why they should at least be tempted.
That tension is telling. The idea of Spence to Liverpool is no longer laughable. It’s rational. It fits the squad profile, the tactical needs, the age bracket, the resale model. But rational does not always mean real.
“It would make an awful lot of sense if they were to step it up,” Steele added. “I haven’t had anything to suggest they will just yet.”
Spurs’ price and Liverpool’s dilemma
Tottenham, for their part, are ready to cash in. Spurs are understood to want between £30m and £40m for Spence, a figure strengthened by his performances for the Three Lions this summer.
That valuation creates the next question. Does it make sense for Liverpool to commit that kind of money to a player who, at least initially, might be viewed as cover for Kerkez on the left and Jeremie Frimpong on the right?
Liverpool have not traditionally paid top-end fees for depth. When they spend in that range, they tend to expect an immediate starter or a clear pathway to that status. Spence’s World Cup form suggests he could grow into that role. His club career to date, fragmented and stop-start, offers less certainty.
So the logic is there. The need is there. The price complicates everything.
A window that won’t sit still
While Spence’s future hangs in the balance, Liverpool’s wider transfer picture keeps shifting. Steele has also outlined the state of play on Bradley Barcola, a chase he believes is primed to become the “story of the summer” for the club as multiple sources feed into a rolling saga.
One thing seems settled, though: Cody Gakpo will not be part of any business between Liverpool and Spurs. Any talk of the Dutchman heading the other way has been shut down, removing one obvious bargaining chip from the table.
So Spence remains in that intriguing space between theory and action. The World Cup has turned him from an afterthought into a live option for Europe’s elite. Inter are circling. Newcastle and Liverpool have been mentioned. Tottenham are ready to sell.
Now the question is simple: will Liverpool turn a move that “makes a lot of sense” on paper into a real bid, or watch a World Cup star who fits their needs walk into someone else’s dressing room?
