Spurs refuse Brentford bid for Djed Spence, but he could still go on loan

Yesterday, it emerged that Djed Spence has been given the green light to leave Tottenham Hotspur on loan. Brentford was one of the clubs interested in his services for the remainder of the season.

Today, we’ve learned that the Bees actually made a formal loan offer for Djed... and Spurs rejected it. Brentford apparently included a clause in the loan offer that had an obligation to purchase at the end of the season, and Spurs turned it down flat.

So this is pretty interesting. First, it tells us that Spurs believe that Spence is a player who could very well feature for the first team in the future, even if he isn’t ready now. And if not that, it means at the very least that they aren’t ready to cut bait on him six months after he joined Spurs as a “club signing.”

But also, Brentford are a smartly-run club. They tend to identify and go after targets with good metrics, low cost players with high ceilings. That seems to fit Djed Spence pretty well. If Brentford is interested in Spence, that gives me some hope that Spurs’ initial purchase of him from Middlesbrough, as protracted as it was, likely was a smart buy.

It also doesn’t mean that Djed won’t be heading out on loan before the end of the window. The Standard notes that, in addition to Brentford, Leicester City (whose interest was noted yesterday), Southampton, and Lyon are among the teams that have expressed interest in taking Spence on loan. With Pedro Porro coming in, Spence is basically a Djed man walking, at least this season, so why not send him to a place where he’ll actually play, learn and improve?