Who is Destiny Udogie? Career stats, name pronunciation, and wages explained

On paper, Tottenham have a near-flawless defence, and a big part of that is the adventurous full-backs they have down each side. Destiny Udogie is one of them, and he’s an incredibly exciting talent.

Spurs have had a great run of finding top talent in the Italian leagues over the last few years, and Destiny Udogie is a prime example of the kind of hidden gems they have unearthed in Serie A.

The young left-back made quite the impact in his first season in England, offering marauding runs down the left channel and terrorising defences throughout the Premier League. However, injuries have hampered his progress with the Lilywhites.

So, who is Destiny Udogie? We’ve got the lowdown on the Spurs star, including how to say his name, where he came from, and how much the club are paying him.

Destiny Udogie had to wait a year for Tottenham debut

Tottenham signed Udogie from Udinese in the summer of 2022, but left him on loan with the Italian club for the season to further his development.

That proved to be a very shrewd decision indeed. The youngster had a brilliant season with Udinese in Serie A, and then arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ready to make an impact.

A year older and wiser, Udogie came in at Spurs at just the right time to link up with Ange Postecoglou, too, thus avoiding the disastrous Antonio Conte era. Under Postecoglou, Udogie thrived as an attack-minded, inverted full-back. However, interestingly, Udogie says he prefers playing for Thomas Frank within the Dane’s slightly more conservative system.

When they’re both fit, Udogie provides the perfect balance to Pedro Porro on the right-hand side of the defence, and has proven to be equally as effective in defensive situations as he is in attacking areas.

Udogie has missed a lot of football over the last couple of years, though. He sat out the backend of the 2023/24 campaign after undergoing surgery, and suffered another setback in the 2024/25 season, too.

Udogie’s career before joining Spurs

Udogie came through the ranks at Hellas Verona before joining Udinese, and then moving to Tottenham in 2022.

He made seven appearances for the Verona first-team before signing for Udinese in 2021, initially on loan and then making that switch permanent.

Udogie made 71 appearances for Udinese, registering eight goals and seven assists.

Strengths and weaknesses

Udogie is fast, agile, and is brilliant at carrying the ball forward. He’s great at linking up with other players in the channels and getting to the byline to put in a cross and is a really dangerous full-back.

He’s pretty strong both on and off the ball, and he’s a very committed player, too. You’ll rarely find him slacking and he has a good attitude for a young player.

However, he does have a tendancy to get caught out at the back, especially after one of his mazy runs up field. Udogie doesn’t have the best positional awareness, and he’s also prone to mistiming a tackle.

How do you pronounce Destiny Udogie?

Many fans and pundits got Destiny Udogie’s name slightly wrong at first. Destiny is simple enough, but his surname should be pronounced Ooh-dog-ee.

At first people pronounced his name You-doh-gi. The man himself specifically told Football.London the correct way to say his name.

His full name is actually Iyenoma Destiny Udogie. Fun fact: Iyenoma translates as ‘good news’, so you could say it was Udogie’s destiny to bring joy to Tottenham.

Destiny Udogie market value and wages explained

Spurs only spent around £15m on Destiny Udogie, but he is now thought to be worth around £35m according to Transfermarkt.

Interestingly, were it not for his injuries, he would probably be valued higher. Indeed, Man City have shown interest in Udogie before, and in his peak at Spurs he has been touted as a player they could sell for more than double his current value.

Udogie’s current deal runs through to the summer of 2030. He was handed an extension in December 2023, and he got a pay rise too. Initially, it’s thought Udogie was paid around £45,000 per week, but Capology now have him listed as earning £75,000 per week.

Udogie’s international career with Italy

Udogie made his debut for Italy in October 2023 off the back of his fine start to life at Spurs. He played 11 minutes in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Malta, before getting just over an hour under his belt against England a few days later.

Luciano Spalletti gave Udogie his break at international level, and it’s very likely the young defender would have a few more caps to his name were it not for that injury in the tail end of the 23/24 season. There’s a high chance he would have been in Italy’s Euro 2024 squad, too.

Udogie returned to the Italian squad in September 2024, playing nine games in a row for the Azzurri. However, injuries have got in the way again, and he hasn’t featured for his country since the summer of 2025.

Personal information

Udogie is fairly tall, coming in at 1.88m high, and he weighs 73kg. He has a very athletic build, and is able to use his physicality to his advantage when it comes to outmuscling opponents.

He was born in Verona, Italy, on November 28, 2002.

Udogie may have Italian citizenship, but he also has Nigerian heritage. Discussing why he chose to represent Italy, he told The Italian Football Podcast: “I was born in Italy, so I feel more Italian. I grew up playing with the young players in Italy… I have been in Nigeria but I was very small. I was like two years old so I don’t remember much but I’ve been there.”

You can follow Destiny Udogie on Instagram, where he has over 370,000 followers.