(Football news) Tottenham are on the verge of signing Djed Spence from Middlesbrough as the England Under-21 right-back has already agreed personal terms with the club. Negotiations between Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and Middlesbrough counterpart Steve Gibson along with the player's agent Scott Smith helped smooth the process as they are believed to have produced a breakthrough and the transfer is on the verge of being done.

If all final processes get done then a medical plan is expected to take place in the next 48 hours. Spence initially began his career in Fulham’s academy but then moved to Middlesbrough in the summer of 2018. He went on to win the EFL Young Player of the Month in January 2020. The defender has since gone on to make 63 appearances for the north east side before moving on loan to Nottingham Forest last summer. Spence last season played a crucial part for Nottingham as they won back promotion having made 39 appearances for Forest in the Championship,  starring under manager Steve Cooper as they reached the play-off final and won promotion to the Premier League after 20 years. He made his debut for England Under-21s in March and has gone on to win three caps for them.

The reported fee is around £12m that is less than the £15m with £5m add-ons that was previously suggested, with the second-tier side originally holding out for at least £20m. That is a reasonably cheap price considering the fact he still has two years left on his contract at Middlesbrough. However, it seemed clear that he wasn’t part of Boro’s summer plans going forward and with Wilder wanting to recruit more players in this summer window. Having that money will ensure themselves the best chance of purchasing some of their top targets and this can only be a good thing to secure promotion back to the top flight.

Middlesbrough may also have a sizeable sell-on clause in this deal, though it remains to be seen whether he’s sold for more money in the future considering he would already be at a top-tier team who will have the ability to keep him for longer than a side in the lower half of the table. For Djed Spence, he gets the chance to make what looks to be an exciting move and could potentially get a lot of first-team opportunities, so this is probably the ideal agreement for all parties.

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