Djed Spence has finally found a home worthy of his ambitions. The 26-year-old England right-back completed a move to Serie A champions Inter Milan from Tottenham Hotspur on Friday, signing a five-year contract at the San Siro in a deal reported to be worth approximately $40 million.
For millions of football supporters across Africa and beyond — Nigeria alone accounts for one of the largest football-watching audiences on the continent, with an estimated 40 million regular Serie A viewers — this is a marquee arrival that raises the profile of an already star-studded Inter Milan squad heading into the 2026–27 European season.
Spence's journey to one of Europe's grandest clubs has been anything but smooth. Signed by Tottenham from Middlesbrough in 2022 for around £12.5 million following a brilliant loan spell at Nottingham Forest, the Middlesbrough-born defender struggled to nail down a first-team place in North London, cycling through loan spells at Rennes, Leeds United, and Rangers without ever convincing Spurs' hierarchy that he was their man.
The move to Inter represents a significant vote of confidence from a club that just claimed the Scudetto. Inter's sporting director Piero Ausilio has built a reputation for identifying defenders who can combine physicality with technical quality — and in Spence, who is pace-driven, direct, and increasingly composed in possession, he appears to have found a player who fits the modern wing-back system that manager Simone Inzaghi has perfected over recent seasons.
While neither club has issued a formal statement beyond confirming the transfer's completion, media reports from Italy and England indicate the five-year deal ties Spence to the Nerazzurri until 2031, giving the club substantial time to develop him into a consistent performer at the highest level. For Tottenham, the $40 million recoup on a player who featured sparingly represents a reasonable return on a signing that simply never clicked at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spence will now be expected to compete — and likely challenge — Denzel Dumfries for the right wing-back role at Inter, a battle that will define how quickly he can adapt to the tactical discipline of Italian football. His integration into Gareth Southgate's successor's England plans will also be watched closely; regular Champions League football at a club of Inter's standing could accelerate his international credentials significantly ahead of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
At 26, with a five-year contract and a Champions League stage to perform on, Djed Spence is no longer a project — he is a bet, and Inter Milan have decided the odds are in their favour.
