Tottenham left in shock by Leeds United move as Djed Spence transfer development emerges
The decision by Leeds United to “abruptly cut short” Djed Spence’s loan “arrived as a shock” at Tottenham, according to the Daily Mail.
The paper reported via their website on 5 January that Spurs will now “almost certainly” look to offload the right-back permanently due to apparent concerns over his attitude.
Daniel Farke spoke at some length on Friday about the move to send Spence back to Spurs and while he called the 23-year-old “a player of great potential and also a cool guy with a really good heart” the manager highlighted the importance of any player in the squad’s “professionalism, his discipline, his workload on and off the pitch and also the soft skills, so also if he’s positive and committed, good for the group”.
According to the Mail there are “similar reservations” over Spence back at Tottenham, with timekeeping said to be a “particular concern” in North London.
As such the former £20million signing from Middlesbrough [Guardian] is now expected to be up for sale, with no place in Ange Postecoglou’s plans.
Not according to plan
Clearly Spence’s loan to Elland Road hasn’t worked out as hoped, much as his big-money move to Spurs hasn’t following a stand-out loan with Nottingham Forest two seasons ago.
Having thrived under Steve Cooper in the Championship previously there were expectations that he might rebound from a difficult year and show some of the same quality for Farke, and in a late cameo off the bench on debut against Sheffield Wednesday (2 September) he suggested that might be on the cards.
But those plans were immediately ruined by an injury that kept him out for the majority of the season up until now, which would no-doubt have been a huge frustration to Leeds United and Spence himself.
Farke made a point of not speaking directly about the defender in a negative sense, but it isn’t hard to read between the lines when he goes on to discuss qualities such as professionalism and commitment in a general sense during the same discussion.
It can be hard for a player to shake a reputation for having a so-called poor attitude once it sticks, sometimes unfairly, and Spence hasn’t had the benefit of a press conference to put his perspective forward.
He would surely have hoped to get back on track with the Whites this term but it hasn’t worked out at all, with the injury and the emergence of Archie Gray restricting him to just seven appearances, the majority of which were out of position on the left.
But what is clear is his career has gone off track in the past 18 months, so if he is to leave Spurs permanently now he will need to find the right environment to get back to his best.
In other Leeds United news, Farke may finally land a key target at the third attempt as he is to unexpectedly become available again.