Djed spence 'initial fears' quashed as ex-boro man prepares for european final

Middlesbrough head of football Kieran Scott admits he initially feared Tottenham would prove a bit too much for Djed Spence, despite being a big fan of the former Boro man. Spence joined

Spurs from Boro in the summer of 2022 following a successful loan spell at Nottingham Forest. It earned the club considerable profit on a player who’d had his struggles at the Riverside,

particularly under Neil Warnock. Impressing on loan at Forest, new Boro boss Chris Wilder had made attempts to convince Spence to return to the club in the January transfer window. However,

Spence was thriving at Forest and Isaiah Jones became an unexpected success at right wing-back which led to a re-negotiation of the loan terms and an eventual move to Spurs after helping

Forest to Premier League promotion. Even after that though, it’s been a long road for Spence at Spurs to get to this point. Making only six Spurs appearances in his first two seasons, he was

shipped out on loan three times and it looked unlikely he would ever make it with the North London club. That was until injuries this season opened the door for him, with the 24-year-old

former Boro man becoming a rare bright spark in what has been a poor season for 17th-placed Tottenham. Ahead of the Europa League final with Manchester United on Wednesday evening though,

Scott has detailed his initial thoughts on the right-back, and admitted his doubts over his Tottenham prospects in an interview with the BBC. "I liked his athletic profile,” Scott said.

“I'd actually put Djed forward at Norwich. He hadn't played that many games at that point because he started under Woody (ex-Boro manager Jonathan Woodgate) and didn't play

many games for Warnock. I came into Middlesbrough and I liked him but the manager at the time didn't so I stepped in and got him a loan. "He chose to go to Forest under Chris

Hughton, then obviously Steve Cooper came in and took Djed to a new level. Chris Wilder came in [as Boro manager] and there was a clamour for Djed to be recalled but as a club, we made a

decision that Djed would stay at Forest where he was doing really well. "It ended up leading to him getting in team of the year and Spurs making a substantial offer. He's had his

loans and he's probably learned a lot from them. He was a bit relaxed. I did initially fear Spurs might be a little bit too much - but fair play, he's hung in there."