What is the transfer value of Arsenal and Tottenham target Djed Spence?
One player who is already generating plenty of interest in the summer transfer market is Nottingham Forest right-back Djed Spence.
The 21-year-old started his professional career with Middlesbrough, having previously been at Fulham, and he would go on to make plenty of appearances for Boro before going on loan to Forest for the 2021/22 campaign.
It is this season in which he has played the best football of his young career so far as he has been unplayable at times.
Crucially, he has kept his best performances for the big stage.
He impressed in FA Cup victories over Premier League sides Arsenal and Leicester and was particularly good in the latter, after which the transfer rumours intensified.
Spence got on the scoresheet from right-back in that one.
The Sun is reporting that Arsenal looked into signing Spence in January to provide competition and support for Takehiro Tomiyasu, while Antonio Conte is eager to bring the player to Tottenham due to the poor performances of Emerson Royal and Matt Doherty.
There are a number of other high profile European clubs interested in him, also.
Bayern Munich could enter a bidding war in the summer, and Milan have allegedly already had the player scouted.
When Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli was asked who was his toughest opponent, he told the Athletic:
“Actually the guy from Nottingham Forest, Djed Spence, who I played against in the FA Cup.
“He is very strong, good on the ball, calm and quick.
"I was surprised – he is a really good player!”
How much would Spence cost?
The report from the Sun states that Middlesbrough are looking for a club-record fee around £20 million to sell Spence, which would be more than the previous record held by Adama Traore, who joined Wolves from Boro for £18m.
FootballTransfers values Spence at €2m.
FootballTransfers' transfer valuations are calculated in collaboration with SciSports, a world-leading football analytics agency that assesses the relative transfer valuations of over 60,000 professional footballers worldwide.
SciSports use multiple data points including current and potential ability, contract length, form, age, and other crucial factors.