{"id":729858,"date":"2026-08-07T00:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T00:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/729858\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T00:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T00:06:13","slug":"rumour-mongering-liverpool-dont-want-to-sign-djed-spence-actually","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/729858\/","title":{"rendered":"Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Don\u2019t Want to Sign Djed Spence, Actually"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">It\u2019s always dangerous to read too much into a good World Cup. Still, if you\u2019re a Liverpool side thin on homegrown talent with major question marks at right back and you have a chance to sign a 25-year-old England international who can also cover left back (where you also have some less major question marks) and it would only cost around \u00a335M, it feels like something you have to go for.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">That was the consensus reaction to chatter over the past 24 hours <a href=\"https:\/\/liverpooloffside.sbnation.com\/liverpool-transfer-news-rumours\/82444\/liverpool-fc-transfer-rumour-mongering-djed-spence-tottenham-linked-to-reds\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">linking Liverpool with Tottenham fullback Djed Spence<\/a>. Spence probably isn\u2019t better than right back Conor Bradley when he\u2019s fit\u2014but counting on Bradley staying fit at this point seems unwise. Spence is probably a defensive upgrade on Jeremie Frimpong, who also was out a lot last season. And at left back, he\u2019s an upgrade on backup Kostas Tsimikas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">He wouldn\u2019t be a flashy signing, but for Liverpool\u2019s needs he seemed eminently sensible. However, it appears he\u2019s not actually a player they\u2019re currently trying to sign. That\u2019s according to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JacobsBen\/status\/2085414347514192330\" rel=\"nofollow\">TalkSport\u2019s Ben Jacobs<\/a>, who is widely believed to have good connections to disastrous Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes and who says Liverpool are instead \u201cfocused on other targets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The hope amongst fans, given the significant squad depth, balance, and a lack of homegrown talent issues in Hughes\u2019 third summer in charge\u2014after being gifted a title-calibre squad when he took over back in 2024\u2014will be that those other targets will be defensive and that that isn\u2019t code for Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye. Who are both very good players but, you know, are also both attackers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Whatever Hughes\u2019 actual plans are, if Spence isn\u2019t a player they\u2019re looking to sign this summer then time is running out with just two weeks until the 2026-27 season kicks off. And Liverpool really do need a right back. And a centre half. And a defensive midfielder. And at least one winger. And a second winger if Cody Gakpo is sold. And a second midfielder if Curtis Jones is sold.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">So that\u2019s fun when your sporting director has taken one of Europe\u2019s best squads and made it inarguably worse, less balanced, less deep, and bungled multiple succession plans since taking over and is now widely expected to pop the parachute and head to the Saudi Pro League at the end of the summer for the payday and\/or to avoid the fallout from, well, all of that. Good job, Richard. Good process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s always dangerous to read too much into a good World Cup. Still, if you\u2019re a Liverpool side&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,2008,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-729858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-liverpool-transfer-news-rumours","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}