The genius Tottenham and Serie A club summer swap transfer deal that makes perfect sense

If you look up ‘the pride that comes before a fall’ in the dictionary, you will see a little, neatly etched portrait of Djed Spence. It wasn’t so very long ago that the wing-back was antagonising Neil Warnock on social media and preparing for life as a Premier League footballer. Since that fateful day, he has registered a grand total of three - count ‘em - three top flight minutes for Tottenham Hotspur, spent a spell in France with Stade Rennais, been sent back to North London early following a disastrous loan stint with Leeds United, and is currently wiling away the rest of this campaign in Italy with Genoa. Life, as they say, comes at you pretty fast.

And it might keep getting faster. According to CalcioMercato, Tottenham are eager to offload Spence this summer, and could look to use him as a makeweight in any prospective agreement involving his current Genoa teammate, Albert Gudmundsson. Those three minutes of Premier League football might not be getting added to any time soon.

Spurs are known to hold a longstanding interest in the Icelandic forward, who is valued at around £30 million and who has recorded 15 goals and four assists in 33 outings across all competitions this season. By no means are they alone in their admiration, with the likes of newly-crowned Serie A champions Inter Milan also circling with intent, but there is a simmering optimism in North London that Spence could represent the ace in the hole that gives Ange Postecoglou’s side a distinct advantage in the tussle for Gudmundsson’s signature.

And you can certainly understand their reasoning. Spence, as we have established, is very much surplus to requirements at the present moment in time, and the chances of him suddenly enacting some kind of grand comeback in Postecoglou’s affections feel slim at best. By contrast, he has actually been playing for Genoa. Since being airlifted out of Elland Road and catapulted off to Liguria, the 23-year-old has racked up 574 minutes over 11 appearances, predominantly as a wide midfielder, but occasionally as a left-back. He might not be the first name on the team sheet in Genoa, but at the very least, he is being utilised.

Meanwhile, the Serie A side will be acutely aware of the fact that they are likely to lose Gudmundsson this summer, regardless of their determined efforts to the contrary. The attacker, capable of playing anywhere across a front three, has developed the undeniable feeling of a player destined for bigger and better things. Whether it is North London or elsewhere, the common consensus is that he will be settling in a fresh location at some point in the near future.

To that end, why shouldn’t Genoa look to glean a little sweetener from departure? If Gudmundsson is to leave and Spence is contributing effectively, surely there could be a sensible and simple means of offing two birds with one stone here. Spurs have seemingly recognised this, and know themselves that there are advantages to a swap deal; the reduced fee for Gudmundsson and the opportunity to offload perceived deadwood from their wage bill being the principle ones.

Whether things will work out that tidily, of course, remains to be seen. Transfer negotiations are fiendish things that pit conflicting desires against each other like emotional cockfights until one party emerges, grizzled and bloody, with something they are least partly pleased with. But at the very least, this has the feel of an agreement that could please everybody involved. And with that in mind, now we wait.