Thomas Tuchel surprised the footballing world when he selected backup Tottenham Hotspur left back Djed Spence, who is a right back by trade, over Real Madrid star right back Trent Alexander-Arnold in the 2026 World Cup squad. Tuchel had been snubbing Trent consistently in his squads before the big tournament, but, surely, he would not leave one of the country's most talented players and technicians after positive performances at Real Madrid?
Well, that is exactly what Tuchel did, and he is already starting to fall in love with the gritty Spence. After Spence looked lively off the bench in England's incredible 4-2 opening win over perennial sleeper contenders Croatia, Tuchel rewarded the Tottenham underdog with a start at left back over Manchester City star Nico O'Reilly, who broke out to become arguably the best left back in the Premier League last season.
O'Reilly came on the pitch to spell Spence, but Spence got 66 minutes in against the Ghanaians in a 0-0 draw. The Tottenham Hotspur defender had a pretty quiet game with no attacking contributions, but he was solid overall, recording a tackle and completing well over 95 percent of his passes on 45 total attempts.
Djed Spence is now trusted by Thomas Tuchel
The larger story is that Djed Spence has worked himself into a trusted role under Thomas Tuchel, and Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi will undoubtedly be factoring that into his decisions this year. Tottenham just signed Andy Robertson at left back to join Souza and Destiny Udogie, and there is a sense that with four potential left backs, someone is going to be the odd man out. Either Spurs loan out Souza or they sell one of Udogie or Spence.
Between the two of them, Udogie is definitely the better player, but Spence is someone that Spurs can rely on to be healthy more. Plus, there is something about the grit that Spence has that is impossible to ignore, and it is a big reason why Tuchel elected to give him opportunities over bigger stars like Trent Alexander-Arnold and Nico O'Reilly.
England face lowly Panama again in the World Cup this year on Saturday, and all eyes will be peeled to see if Spence gets the start over O'Reilly again or if Tuchel embraces the Tottenham man's identity as a Swiss Army Knife and brings him in off the bench. Another reason for Tuchel to love Spence is his ability to play at either fullback position or further ahead on either wing, and we will see if he makes use of that versatility, too.
Add us as a preferred source on Google