Well, that’s unexpected. Tottenham Hotspur fullback Djed Spence has had his full-season loan at Leeds United terminated at the midway point. The player returns to Spurs, at least initially, as announced by the club.
Djed Spence has returned to the Club following a loan spell at Leeds United.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 4, 2024
It hasn’t been the best of loans for Djed, just as it hasn’t been the best experience the past few seasons. Djed played nine minutes in Leeds’ first match of the season, then sustained a serious injury and was out until late November. He finally got healthy and started five matches in December, then was benched on New Year’s Day before having his loan cancelled.
According to Leeds journalist Joe Donnohue, the decision to terminate the loan was made by Leeds and not by Tottenham.
Djed Spence has returned to Tottenham Hotspur early after #LUFC exercised the recall option in his loan deal. 23 y/o made seven apps at Elland Road. Daniel Farke expected to provide more info on the decision during his pre-match press conference tmrw.https://t.co/RHgwQ6KPYT
— Joe Donnohue (@JoeDonnohue) January 4, 2024
Leeds’ statement did not specify why they decided to send Spence back to his home club, but Donnohue reports that Leeds manager Daniel Farke is expected to explain the decision in more detail in a press conference tomorrow. We can only speculate what Farke’s reasons are, but Farke was also manager of Norwich when Marcus Edwards had his tumultuous loan there a number of years ago, so we know that Farke doesn’t suffer fools lightly. Farke is also extremely forthright about things like this. That said, we don’t KNOW that Spence is heading home due to attitude issues or that something else that happened. Only thing we can do is wait and see what comes out tomorrow.
At any rate, I can’t see a scenario where Ange Postecoglou brings Spence back into the fold so I’d guess Spurs will try to find another club for him, either on loan or permanently. He’s a talent, but he didn’t fit under Conte and seemingly doesn’t fit under Postecoglou either.