Djed Spence: The Full-Back Liverpool Needs After World Cup Success

Liverpool’s summer has been framed by one question: who comes after Mohamed Salah? But while the spotlight glares on the forward line, a quieter, more tactical problem is taking shape in the full-back positions. That’s where Djed Spence’s name has forced its way into the conversation.

A World Cup that changed the argument

Before this summer, the idea of Spence in a Liverpool shirt would have drawn little more than a shrug on Merseyside. Certainly from Lewis Steele of the Daily Mail, who admitted on Anfield Index’s Media Matters that he “didn’t really rate Djed Spence too highly at all” as recently as six weeks ago.

Then came the World Cup in North America.

Spence has been one of England’s standout performers at the tournament, and Steele went as far as to say he thought the Tottenham defender was England’s best player in the semi-final against Argentina. That kind of stage, that kind of performance, tends to reorder opinions quickly. It also tends to catch the eye of recruitment departments that had only been half-watching before.

Inter Milan are currently seen as favourites to land the 25-year-old, but TEAMtalk’s Graeme Bailey has reported that Liverpool and Newcastle are in the mix, with Spurs ready to sanction a sale. Official bids? None reported. Concrete Anfield interest? Not yet. But the football logic behind the link is increasingly hard to ignore.

Full-back gaps Liverpool can’t gloss over

Liverpool’s need at full-back is not a manufactured storyline. It’s structural.

On the left, Milos Kerkez is short of genuine, high-level competition. Kostas Tsimikas has returned from his loan at Roma and will be assessed in pre-season as Andoni Iraola runs the rule over his squad, yet there is still a sense that Liverpool are one injury away from a problem in both full-back areas.

Steele cut straight to that point: “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.”

That versatility is the crux of the Spence argument. In an Iraola system that demands intensity, aggression and flexibility from wide defenders, a full-back who can flip flanks without a drop in level is worth serious money. Spence has shown he can defend one-on-one, carry the ball, and cope with big-game pressure. Those are traits Liverpool value heavily.

So even without a clear signal from Anfield that a move is imminent, the fit on the pitch looks obvious.

Sense over certainty

This is where the story splits.

On one side, you have the tactical case: Spence, entering his prime years, capable on both flanks, proven at international level this summer, and available. On the other, the hard reality that Liverpool’s interest, as things stand, is speculative rather than concrete.

Steele was clear on that line: “I’ve not heard anything really to suggest that Liverpool are going to make a move for him.” No briefings, no whispers of negotiations, no imminent bid. Just a player whose profile lines up almost perfectly with a growing need.

That tension is what makes the link intriguing rather than inevitable. The door is open. No one has walked through it yet.

Even so, Steele admitted that if Liverpool did decide to accelerate talks, “it would make an awful lot of sense if they were to step it up,” especially on the back of Spence’s display against Argentina. The performance has, at the very least, forced people inside and outside the club to reassess what kind of ceiling the defender might have.

The price of flexibility

Spurs are not about to give that potential away. The expectation is a fee in the region of £30–40 million, a price inflated by his World Cup form and his status as an England international.

For Liverpool, that level of outlay raises a blunt question: can they justify spending that much on a player who, at least initially, might be seen as cover for Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong rather than an undisputed starter?

Under this ownership, the club rarely commits that kind of money without a clear, long-term pathway to the first XI. Spence’s ability to operate on both sides offers exactly that sort of pathway, but the internal calculation will be ruthless. Is he a rotation piece, or a future pillar of Iraola’s back line?

That judgement will decide whether this link remains theory or becomes a serious move.

A busy window, and one saga waiting to explode

While Spence’s name hovers on the edge of Liverpool’s plans, other deals are moving at different speeds.

Steele has described the chase for Bradley Barcola as a potential “story of the summer,” with multiple sources feeding into a complex pursuit that could define Liverpool’s attacking refresh. That is where more of the noise currently sits, where more of the energy is clearly being directed.

One transfer that can be crossed off any Liverpool–Spurs negotiation list is Cody Gakpo. A significant update on the Dutchman’s future has shut down the prospect of him heading in the opposite direction, removing one obvious piece from any hypothetical swap scenarios.

So the Spence question lingers, unanswered but persistent. A full-back who has forced his way into the conversation with his World Cup form, a club that quietly needs exactly his profile, and a price tag that demands absolute conviction.

If Liverpool do decide to act, it will not be because of the rumour mill. It will be because, when they look at their depth chart at full-back and at the demands of Iraola’s football, they see the same thing Steele now does: Djed Spence, suddenly, makes a lot of football sense.