Tottenham report: Spurs lead Arsenal in the race for exciting young talent

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte
(Image credit: PA)

Tottenham and Arsenal are no strangers to locking horns over players – but Spurs might get one over their north London rivals with one young starlet. 

Both clubs are in the process of building younger squads capable of wrestling back top four positions and in a number of positions, it seems as if Lilywhites manager Antonio Conte will be competing with Gunners boss Mikel Arteta this summer.

Spurs are said to want a new right-back and a striker to ease the burden on Harry Kane in the transfer market: two roles that the red side of north London would like to strengthen, too.

One name in particular linked to both sides has been Djed Spence. The Middlesbrough player, on loan at Nottingham Forest, has been a revelation in the Championship, even knocking Arsenal out of the FA Cup this season.

According to CaughtOffside, Tottenham have the edge when it comes to signing the 21-year-old because Arsenal can't offer as much first-team football. Takehiro Tomiyasu has thrived for Arteta's team this season, whereas Conte sees right wing-back as more of a problem position, despite Matt Doherty's resurgence.

In the winter transfer window, both Arsenal are Tottenham were linked with moves for Dusan Vlahovic and Dejan Kulusevski. The latter ended up at Tottenham, while the former moved to Juventus, snubbing heavy interest from the Gunners.

Spence is valued at around £2m by Transfermarkt.

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Mark White
Content Editor

Mark White is the Digital Content Editor at FourFourTwo. During his time on the brand, Mark has written three cover features on Mikel Arteta, Martin Odegaard and the Invincibles, and has written pieces on subjects ranging from Sir Bobby Robson’s time at Barcelona to the career of Robinho. An encyclopedia of football trivia and collector of shirts, he first joined the team back in 2020 as a staff writer.