The Spence family has several talents: Djed, a professional footballer, and his sister Karla-Simone, an actress and voice actress who has worked in various series and programs on English television. The right winger was born in London on August 9, 2000, to Jamaican parents, and describes himself as multicultural: Caribbean in his passion for music and typical Jamaican food, English in his British humour and in enjoying tea for breakfast.

Raised in Peckham, a neighborhood in south London, he started playing for his local team, Peckham Town. After a period with Junior Elite in Croydon, he was noticed by Fulham and joined the Cottagers’ Academy. At 16, he moved to Middlesbrough, the club with which he made his professional debut. In 2021, he went on loan to Nottingham Forest, winning the Championship and earning promotion to the Premier League.

Rio Ferdinand, legendary central defender for Manchester United and the England national team, was born right in Peckham. Spence had the pleasure of meeting him, but since he was a child, the former defender has been a role model for him and all the kids in the neighborhood: his father always told him Rio’s story as an example to follow. Every time they passed by Ferdinand’s house, his father reminded him where a great player like him had started from. Rio is an important part of the culture for the kids of Peckham.

Bought by Tottenham Hotspur in 2022, Spence was loaned first to Rennes in France, then to Leeds United, and between January and June 2024 to Genoa. It was with the rossoblu that he spent six months which allowed him to get to know Serie A and Italian football, as well as to grow personally. During that period, he shared the locker room with Josep Martinez, the current Nerazzurri goalkeeper: in Genoa, his teammates nicknamed him Chill Guy. “Why? Because I’m a Chill Guy!”

In his six months with the rossoblu, he made a total of 16 appearances, all in the league. Among these, one is more special than the others: Inter-Genoa 2-1 on March 4, 2024, at San Siro, when he came on in the 62nd minute, playing his first 28 minutes in the Milan stadium. An emotion hard to forget in the stadium that has now also become his own.

Back at Tottenham, he played a starring season, winning the Europa League in 2024/25: the winger made 41 appearances, earning a call-up to the 2026 World Cup with England, a competition that ended with the Three Lions winning the bronze medal.

As a child, he didn’t just play football: for a period, he practiced taekwondo, a martial art born in South Korea, mainly based on fighting with kicks. Taekwondo has also been part of the Olympic program since the 1988 edition, held in Seoul.

Spence’s favorite Nerazzurri legend? His answer is very simple: R9, Ronaldo the Phenomenon. Any explanation would be superfluous, considering that the Brazilian is one of the strongest players ever seen on a football pitch.

On his social profiles, he often uses the hashtag GODSPEED, a word also printed on a bracelet he often wears. For him, the meaning lies in the word itself: everything in the world moves at the speed willed by God. He is ready to face any situation, because he has faith that everything is in God’s hands.

Spence has become the fifth Englishman in Inter’s history: the first was Gerry Hitchens, a striker who played between 1961 and 1962, collecting 43 appearances and 20 goals. More recent are Paul Ince, a gritty midfielder who wore the Nerazzurri shirt between 1995 and 1997, totaling 73 appearances and 13 goals, and Ashley Young, with the Nerazzurri from January 2020 to June 2021 with 59 appearances, 5 goals, and a Scudetto win. In Milan, he will reunite with John Stones, the fourth Englishman in Inter’s history, a defender with whom he shared the adventure at the North American World Cup that ended with third place.

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