Journalist makes claim on Tottenham Hotspur’s transfer agreement with Middlesbrough for 21-year-old

TalkSPORT journalist Alex Crook believes Tottenham Hotspur held their nerve and waited for Middlesbrough to accept a lower offer than the latter wanted for wing-back Djed Spence, speaking to Give Me Sport.

The Northern Echo previously revealed that the Championship side were holding out for a fee of higher than £20m for his services after seeing him impress at Nottingham Forest last season.

They were able to set this price tag because of the fact he still has two years left on his contract at the Riverside Stadium, signing an extension before making the temporary move to the City Ground.

However, The Times believes Spurs have managed to secure a £12m agreement for his services, much less than what many would have expected considering he was the subject of interest from elite sides across Europe.

But none of these other sides, including Forest who focused on other targets instead, made a firm bid to lure the England international away from the Riverside with Antonio Conte’s men being in pole position to secure this agreement for a while.

And Crook believes Spurs remained firm at the negotiating table and waited for the Teesside outfit to cave in, with Spence not even guaranteed to be in the starting lineup next term if he had remained at his current club.

The reporter said: “I think Tottenham felt the longer the window dragged on, Middlesbrough and certainly Chris Wilder, would be keen to part company with Spence.

“They eventually had to bow to Tottenham’s asking price like they appear to have done, because I couldn’t see Spurs massively improving their offer.”

The Verdict:

Fair play to Spurs for holding their nerve because there was a real chance that another side could have come in and agreed a deal with Boro for the