One of the main positions Liverpool simply must reinforce during this summer transfer window is right-back.
Conor Bradley was supposed to be the heir to Trent Alexander-Arnold's throne, and was impressing during the first half of the campaign, but has not featured since early-January due to an horrific knee injury suffered at Arsenal. So, with the Northern Irishman still a few weeks away from returning to full training, could Liverpool make a surprise right-back signing?
Well, according to the Anfield Index on YouTube, Liverpool hold a "serious" interest in signing Tottenham Hotspur defender Djed Spence. They add "we went digging on this and Djed Spence is absolutely a player that Liverpool are looking at".
This comes after Graeme Bailey of TeamTalk reported that Spurs "are ready to greenlight" a sale, amid purported interest from Serie A champions Inter Milan as well as, slightly less glamorously, Everton and Newcastle. Now though, could the versatile full-back soon swap perennial 17th-place finishers Spurs for Merseyside?
Why Liverpool need a right-back signing
As already alluded to, right-back was a major problem position for Arne Slot last season, with numerous player force to fill in there, many of whom did so unnaturally.
Players PL & UCL matches played at RB (25/26)
Jeremie Frimpong 20
Conor Bradley 19
Joe Gomez 13
Dominik Szoboszlai 9
Curtis Jones 7
With last summer's big-money signing Jeremie Frimpong not trusted to start big matches at right-back, Slot was forced to find alternative solutions. This saw Dominik Szoboszlai regularly deployed there, which was far from ideal, given that this meant the Reds' best midfielder was being sacrificed. It remains to be seen how Iraola views Frimpong, but it is clear that a signing will need to be made.
Would Djed Spence be a good signing for Liverpool?
WHAT A TACKLE FROM DJED SPENCE 👊 pic.twitter.com/kyrHBS0tzX
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 15, 2026
One of the most surprising developments of the World Cup was Spence becoming a national hero in England. He embodied the fighting spirit and determination that got Thomas Tuchel's team to the semi-finals, putting in numerous high-profile interventions and tackles, most notably the last-ditch one on Giuliano Simeone in Atlanta. He more than justified his place in the Three Lions squad, controversially chosen over Alexander-Arnold and others, but how good a player is he really?
Djed Spence Premier League statistics 2025/26
Statistics Djed Spence Premier League rank
Tackles 44 35th
Interceptions 18 51st
Clearances 52 53rd
Blocked shots 3 54th
Errors leading to a goal 2 2nd
Errors leading to a shot 4 4th
Possession lost 364 20th
Average rating 6.59 56th
Note: Statistics courtesy ofSofaScore. Only defenders minimum 30 PL appearance included.
Well, fair to say that Spence's statistics do not jump off the page, at least not in a good way. None of his defensive numbers, in terms of tackles, interceptions, clearances or blocks, were particularly high among Premier League defenders last season.
The only categories he was near the top of were both errors leading to a goal and errors leading to a shot, responsible for two of the 57 Spurs let in, which is not a ringing endorsement. In his defence, Spence was playing for a largely hopeless Tottenham team, one the only survived on the final day.
So, it is more a question of whether or not the raw ingredients are there to mould the 25 year old into a top-class defender. The available evidence suggests not, but Spence has proved doubters wrong his entire career. While at Middlesbrough, he was cast aside by manager Neil Warnock, only to then be a key figure in the Nottingham Forest side that won promotion at Boro's expense.
It then took him 881 days to make his Tottenham debut, loaned out three times after Antonio Conte labelled him a "club signing", only given a chance by Ange Postecoglou due to an injury crisis. Then, as mentioned, few agreed with Tuchel including him in the World Cup squad, but he rose to the challenge, so could he be tasked with doing so as a Liverpool player soon too?
Add us as a preferred source on Google