Djed Spence has insisted that Daniel Farke’s comment about his lack of professionalism was unfair and admitted that he is keen to prove his detractors wrong.
It came as a surprise to many when Leeds decided to prematurely end Spence’s season-long loan spell in January.
When asked about the decision, Farke said at the time that Leeds’ decision to terminate the right-back’s loan spell prematurely was down to disciplinary issues and a lack of professionalism (Joe Donnohue).
It has since been suggested by several reporters, including The Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick that Ange Postecoglou had also been unimpressed with Spence’s behaviour since pre-season, with there being question marks about his punctuality and his attitude in training.
However, Spence, who sealed a loan move to Genoa in January, insisted that some things had been blown out of proportion.
Djed Spence denies he is unprofessional
When asked about Farke’s comments, he told The Athletic: “I don’t think that’s fair at all. I don’t necessarily agree with what they said. But in football, this is how it is: you have to keep your head down, keep going and eventually prove people wrong.
“Some of it is a bit blown out of proportion. You can be late once and if you’re not playing, it’s a problem, and if you are playing, then it’s not a problem.”
Farke primarily used Spence at left-back and the 23-year-old remarked that he was not able to showcase his best at Elland Road since he was played out of position.
Speaking about his spell at Leeds, the former Middlesbrough man said: “I went there, things were going well, then I got injured. I got quite a bad injury to my knee, then I came back but I was still getting pain.
“I came back and was playing a bit but I was playing on the wrong side (at left-back). It wasn’t easy. It didn’t get the best out of me, everyone wants to play in their best position.”
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The fact that Ange decided to ship Spence out in the summer without giving the right-back any opportunities does suggest that the Australian might have had misgivings about the 23-year-old’s attitude.
Ange is really particular about the type of dressing room atmosphere he wants to build within the Tottenham first team squad and he might not have seen Spence as a good fit for that.