Tottenham have completed the sale of Djed Spence to Inter Milan, with the Serie A club paying a fee worth up to €35m (£30m) for the England full-back. The deal is structured as a fixed €31.5m, rising by a further amount through performance-related add-ons. Spence has signed a five-year contract at San Siro, running until June 2031, on wages reported at around €2.5m-€3m a season plus bonuses. The move was confirmed on 15 August 2026, after Spence travelled to Milan to complete a medical.
Spence, who made 85 appearances for Tottenham, said his time at the club had come to an end. "A special chapter comes to an end. It's been some journey, with plenty of memories... Time for a new chapter now, but Spurs will always have a place in my heart," he said.
Inter moved for Spence to help fill the gap left by Denzel Dumfries, who joined Real Madrid earlier in the summer after Real triggered a release clause in his contract. Head coach Cristian Chivu identified Spence as an early target for the window, valuing his pace, his ball-carrying and his willingness to get forward from full-back. Spence already had experience of Italian football from a loan spell at Genoa in 2024, which made the move easier to sell to both player and club. His versatility - he has played on both the right and left of defence during his career - also appealed to Inter as they look to rotate across a demanding fixture list.
For Tottenham, the sale reflects a change in pecking order rather than a fall-out. Head coach Roberto De Zerbi, who took charge in the spring, has made Pedro Porro his first-choice right-back, recently describing the Spaniard as one of the best in the world in that position, while Destiny Udogie remains the preferred option on the left. With regular football hard to guarantee, Spurs chose to cash in rather than let Spence's value drift. The fee adds to funds raised in a busy window that has also seen Cristian Romero leave for Atletico Madrid, with Tottenham moving to bring in Andy Robertson as additional left-back cover.
Spence's stock had rarely been higher than after this summer's World Cup. Restored to the England squad, he featured throughout the tournament, including the semi-final defeat to Argentina and the third-place play-off win over France. That form followed his most consistent domestic season yet, in which he made 30 appearances in the Premier League for Tottenham, starting 23 of them - a marked improvement on the stop-start early years of his Spurs career, and the kind of upward trend that persuaded Inter to move quickly.
At Inter, Spence arrives as competition and cover across the back line rather than a guaranteed starter, with Federico Dimarco established on the left and other options on the right. His ability to play at both full-back and wing-back gives Chivu a squad option who can deputise on either side without a change of system. Given his World Cup form, though, Inter will hope he can push for regular minutes rather than settle for a squad role.