Inter defender Djed-Hotep Spence has been named in the Nerazzurri's UEFA Champions League squad for 2026-27, confirmed in the club's official list submission alongside fellow additions Stones and Marello, with Sebastiano Esposito and Filip Stankovic placed in List B.
The inclusion matters because it resolves the first real administrative question of Spence's Inter career. Arriving in a summer transfer window, the 26-year-old right back needed to be registered before he could contribute to the European campaign Chivu's Inter is already building toward. The paperwork is done. The audition begins.
What the squad list cannot answer is the more pressing question: what does Spence actually bring? His profile is not built on attacking output. Across 30 appearances in the Premier League during 2025-26 — numbers produced in England, not in Serie A — he registered neither a goal nor an assist. That is a blunt return for a full back in the modern game, where the position is increasingly expected to function as a creative outlet. An AI overall of 66 out of 100 places him in the functional rather than elite bracket, a player whose value presumably lives in defensive structure, positional discipline, and the kind of unglamorous reliability that coaches prize when the table is tight.
Chivu's Inter has started the 2026-27 Serie A season with two wins from two, five goals scored and one conceded. That defensive solidity — a goals-against figure of one across the opening pair of fixtures — suggests the backline is already functioning well. Spence's path to regular minutes will depend on whether Chivu views him as a starter or as depth insurance for a squad competing across multiple fronts.
The front office context adds another layer. Piero Ausilio, who spent 28 years shaping Inter's recruitment strategy, has left the club, with Dario Baccin named as his immediate replacement. Ausilio's fingerprints are on much of the squad Chivu inherited; Baccin now inherits the consequences of those decisions, Spence among them.
For now, Spence is registered, available, and operating inside a club in transition at the administrative level while performing with authority on the pitch. The Champions League list is a statement of intent from the club: he is part of this project. Whether he becomes central to it depends on what he produces when the European nights arrive.