Everton have been linked with a potential move for Tottenham Hotspur and England full-back Djed Spence
England World Cup player Djed Spence
England World Cup player Djed Spence
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Everton have been linked with a move for England World Cup star Djed Spence, but what could the Tottenham Hotspur player potentially bring to the Blues?
Born in Kensington on August 9, 2000, the same day that Walter Smith’s Everton triumphed 1-0 in a friendly at Yeovil Town with trialist striker Samuel Ipoua, a Cameroon international who would instead move from Toulouse to Mainz that summer, scoring the winning goal, Spence began his own football career in Fulham’s academy but moved away from London to get his senior breakthrough at Middlesbrough.
He had a loan spell with Nottingham Forest before returning to the capital with a £20million switch to Tottenham. After further loans at Rennes, Leeds United and Genoa, he has established himself with club and country over the past year and has 13 England caps to date.
Right-back of course remains the Blues’ long-running problem position. Kenny Tete could have filled the void last summer but after a U-turn, he decided to sign a new deal at Fulham instead, and now The Athletic cite Spence and being on the Blues' radar.
Ahead of the winter window closing, David Moyes admitted that the club had been actively searching for a new right-back for a year. Nathan Patterson came close to leaving before the winter window closed and despite featuring for Scotland in the World Cup, he remains surplus to requirements having seen team-mates such as Ben Godfrey and more recently, Jake O’Brien, selected out of position ahead of him.
Combine that with long serving club captain Seamus Coleman departing after 17-and-a-half years and Everton’s need for a new recruit has grown even greater. However, while Spence has fulfilled that role for Thomas Tuchel throughout the Three Lions’ progress to Wednesday’s semi-final against Argentina, with Reece James, Jarell Quansah, Declan Rice and Ezri Konsa also being deployed there, it’s become even more of a moveable feast than at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Indeed, while 109 of Spence’s 265 career appearances at club level have been at right-back (the most of any position but still just over 40% of his total), 32 of his 44 outings for Spurs last season were at left-back. Therefore, we can use Comparisonator to see how he measures up against his peers.
Their parameters league shows that Spence averaged more progressive runs (3.08) per 90 minutes than any other player in his position last season, ahead of Rayan Ait-Nouri of Manchester City (2.6) and Ferdi Kadioglu of Brighton & Hove Albion (2.48). Also, he boasts great pace with only Fulham’s Antonee Robinson (35.92km/h) able to top his maximum speed of 35.75km/h.
So, using Comparisonator’s Me2Others tool, how does Spence shape up against Everton’s incumbent left-back Vitalii Mykolenko? When it comes to Artificial Intelligence points of their overall performance applied over 378 parameters, the Ukraine international scores higher, 219 to 174.
Spence dominates offensively with a score of 24.1 compared to Mykolenko’s minus 1.52 and physically (311 to 293) but the Blues player is ahead in the defensive (95.72 to 52.44); duels (49.86 to 44.39) and passing (69.57 to 48.36) categories.
Here is a breakdown of their respective displays...
Physical
Mykolenko covers a greater distance per 90 minutes (9.333km to 8.654km), but Spence produces more sprints (runs of over 25km/h) with a count of 20.91 to 17.57.
Offensive
Spence dominates this section. He has more shots (0.47 to 0.19); shots on target (0.24 to 0.06); dribbles (2.65 to 0.91) and successful dribbles (1.52 to 0.47).
Defensive
Mykolenko is on top here. He produces more ball recoveries (8.26 to 6.49); interceptions (4.05 to 3.32) and clearances (2.2 to 1.52).
Comparisonator player profiles of Djed Spence of Tottenham Hotspur and Vitalii Mykolenko of Everton
Comparisonator player profiles of Djed Spence of Tottenham Hotspur and Vitalii Mykolenko of Everton
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Passes
The Everton man again has the higher figures with more passes (35.64 to 35.15); successful passes (28.53 to 28.23); crosses (2.45 to 1.94) and successful crosses (0.99 to 0.52).
Duels
There’s not much in this one. Although Spence contests more duels (16.15 to 13.52) and wins more (7.52 to 6.86), Mykolenko edges out the percentage won (51% to 47%).
Surely if a current England international, who can occupy two separate areas that the team are short in, becomes available then Everton cannot turn their noses up. However, the price tag could be key to this deal happening.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising an industry leading 378 different parameters. Click here for more details.