French club chief admits they have been tracking Spurs player ‘for a while’

Rennes’ executive chairman and general manager Olivier Cloarec has admitted his delight at being able to secure the services of Djed Spence, revealing that the Ligue 1 club had been following the Tottenham man for a while.

Spence was one of two right wing-backs to be offloaded by Tottenham on transfer deadline day with Pedro Porro having arrived through the door from Sporting Lisbon.

Djed Spence
(Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

Some were taken by surprise that the 22-year-old was loaned out to Rennes, given that a whole host of Premier League clubs had been credited with an interest in the right-back (90 min).

Alasdair Gold took to social media to explain yesterday that the Premier League clubs who wanted Spence were insisting on either an option or an obligation to buy.

Cloarec has now revealed that Rennes beat out competition from several clubs around Europe to snap up the former Middlesbrough man on loan.

The Ligue 1 club’s executive chairman said (via Football.London): “After the injury of Lorenz Assignon and that of Hamari Traore at the start of the week, additional bad news, we had a need for this position.

“We had very good feedback and we are very happy that he chose Stade Rennais because he had possibilities in other European clubs.

“We were able to pull out of the game and we had to be very reactive. The recruitment cell works all year round and this is not a last-minute discovery. He is a player that we have been following for a while.”

Rennes’ technical director Florian Maurice, described Spence as a player with ‘great potential’.

He said about the deadline day signing: “Following the injuries to Lorenz Assignon and Hamari Traoré, we had to react very quickly. It’s an interesting player profile.

“He is a committed, fast player who is able to defend well and also attack well. He moved up to the Premier League with Nottingham Forest last season.

“He played little with Tottenham but he’s still a player with great potential. In a few hours, you had to be reactive to find the right option and I hope he will quickly blend into the group in order to show us his qualities.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Rennes boss Bruno Genesio seems to have abandoned a back four in favour of a back three since his side’s win over PSG a couple of weeks ago, and I suspect that was one of the main reasons that Tottenham felt that a move to Roazhon Park would be the right fit for Spence.

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