England full-back Djed Spence appeared to snub a handshake with Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey ahead of this evening’s World Cup 2026 clash.
Spence has been brought into Thomas Tuchel’s starting XI tonight, replacing Nico O’Reilly, who started in the win over Croatia, and he’s already made quite an impression with this big statement before the game.
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As reported by BBC Sport, there were also some doubts about Partey’s involvement as he’d been denied entry into Canada earlier in this tournament due to ongoing criminal proceedings against him.
The former Arsenal midfielder has previously pleaded not guilty to seven charges of rape and one count of sexual assault, while he’s scheduled for a further trial in the future.
Video of the moment Djed Spence snubbed Thomas Partey
It remains to be seen if this was deliberate by Spence, but it seems that the Tottenham defender may well have been making a point of snubbing Partey here…
djed absolute legend for not shaking hands with partey need more of this in football pic.twitter.com/w0IOYeufDZ
— ??©??? (@librarygreenie) June 23, 2026
We’ll have to see if Spence speaks about this later, but it certainly seems like a quite deliberate choice to reject that one specific player out of the entire Ghana line up.
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England are 0-0 with Ghana so far in this World Cup clash, with Tuchel’s side looking to build on that impressive opening day victory over Croatia.
The Three Lions have a big chance to go far in this tournament as they look like one of the major favourites, with a world class manager and some elite players like Harry Kane, Declan Rice, and Jude Bellingham, who all look to be at the peak of their powers.
The post Video appears to show Djed Spence snubbing Thomas Partey handshake before England-Ghana appeared first on CaughtOffside.