Tottenham Hotspur's desire to sign Djed Spence this month stems from the amount of boxes the 21-year-old ticks for Antonio Conte's side.
Spence has been a breakout star this season in the Championship while on loan from Middlesbrough at Nottingham Forest, playing a key role in helping Steve Cooper's side earn promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs. The England U21 defender has caught the eye of clubs not only in the English top flight but also across Europe.
Tottenham are among the frontrunners to sign Spence, with Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Newcastle, Brentford and Forest having all shown a strong interest in the London-born wide man. Reports that Spurs have agreed a fee with Middlesbrough are believed to be wide of the mark at this point and football.london understands that developments are expected with Spence's future early next week.
READ MORE: Pau Torres, Djed Spence, Weston McKennie, Lucas Paqueta, Ilya Zabarnyi - Tottenham transfer plan
The player was in Kosovo with the England U21 squad on Friday night, despite being rested from the matchday squad and he will return to action on Monday night for their home game against Slovenia. Tottenham's managing director of football Fabio Paratici has watched Spence in person this season and while there would be an emotional pull for the player to return to Forest, he is understood to be attracted by the prospect of playing Champions League football, something both Spurs and Dortmund can offer next season.
The north London club are also expected to be able to offer him plenty of playing time next season in what will be a busy campaign on all fronts and that would be key for Spence, who is not understood to be keen on joining a big club only to be loaned straight out somewhere else.
Tottenham need to increase their homegrown numbers with players such as Dele Alli and now academy product Cameron Carter-Vickers leaving the club and Harry Winks and Joe Rodon also expected to depart this summer, the latter considered homegrown in their Premier League squad but not in their Champions League one.
Spence fits the bill on the homegrown front and with Spurs expected to listen to offers for Emerson Royal this summer, with a couple of La Liga sides interested in bringing the Brazilian back to Spain, he would be used in tandem with the experienced Matt Doherty down the right by Conte.
While Emerson defended well for Tottenham, particularly in the latter part of the season, Spence fits Conte's wing-back requirements perfectly. The Italian's system relies on his wing-backs being defenders in one moment but then attacking wingers in the next. He does not only expect them to fire crosses into the box and be able to dribble, but he also wants them to be on the end of passes and crosses from their counterparts on the other flank.
That is why Conte converted Ivan Perisic into that role at Inter Milan and has brought the 33-year-old Croatian to Tottenham this summer to compete with Ryan Sessegnon down the left. Sessegnon's England U21 team-mate Spence has already shown that he has the skillset for that role on the right and Conte and Paratici are understood to believe that the Spurs head coach can develop him into a top level star.
Spence ended the season in the PFA Championship Team of the Year and a simple look at his stats on Whoscored shows why the 6ft tall wide man ticks all the boxes for Conte.
The 21-year-old loves to get forward and he completed more dribbles (74) than any other defender in the division over the campaign, having attempted 169 in all. He also made a remarkable 44 key passes as a defender during his 42 appearances and that he only registered four assists points more to the profligacy of those Forest players on the end of his crosses and passes.
Spence is also not scared of having a shot, having taken 24 during the season, including 17 from outside the box, and Conte would look for him to improve on his three goals this season.
Defensively his stats for the season were also up there among the best, with 62 successful tackles from 82 attempted and despite his advanced position down the flank, Spence was only dribbled past 20 times in his 42 Championship matches. He made 66 interceptions, also blocking 23 crosses, 42 passes and eight shots as a defender and made 58 clearances.
It's also worth noting that Spence came up against three Premier League teams in the FA Cup - Arsenal, Leicester and Liverpool - and he was named man of the match against the Gunners and scored during a fine performance against the Foxes. Liverpool, albeit a much-changed Reds side, were restricted to only a single goal in their 1-0 win at The City Ground.
Tottenham's pursuit of Spence is by no means done yet, but it's clear to see why Paratici and Conte want to bring him to N17.
