In a surprising turn of events, Leeds United have ended the loan agreement for Djed Spence six months ahead of schedule. Now, Leeds boss Daniel Farke has offered some explanation as to why that decision was taken.
Things just keep going from bad to worse for Djed Spence, who has yet again struggled to live up to expectations and seemingly fallen out of favour with yet another manager.
The young defender was signed in the summer of 2022, but failed to make an impact under Antonio Conte. Spence was handed just 41 minutes of football across all competitions in the first half of the 2022/23 campaign (Transfermarkt) before being loaned out to Stade Rennais for the remainder of the season.
Ange Postecoglou came in over the summer and decided there was not a place for Spence in his plans, and the 23-year-old left for a season-long loan at Championship side Leeds United. However, that agreement has now been ended, with Spence returning to Spurs this week.
Why was Djed Spence sent back to Spurs?
Speaking to the press (via Yorkshire Post journalist Joe Donnohue), Leeds boss Daniel Farke addressed the matter and hinted at the reasons why Spence was sent back to his parent club.
He said: “Obviously it’s important, the potential and quality of the player but also professionalism, discipline, workload on and off the pitch and also the soft skills, if he’s positive and committed, good for the group and engaged with these topics.
“In the summer we came here in order to create and to bring new values and to create a new culture within the club and when we speak about a player—if he’s on here on a permanent or a loan deal—we have expectations and these expectations are important.
“Our demands are very, very high and we don’t differ between loan players and permanent players, so we are pretty picky in this topic.”
Spurs Web Opinion
These comments suggest pretty heavily that Spence was not applying himself correctly and didn’t have the right mindset or attitude to suit the setup at Leeds. We know how highly Postecoglou values a player’s behaviours, and I can’t see Spence being a part of the Spurs squad if what we suspect is true.