Remember when Djed Spence was loaned out to Leeds United midway through the season because he supposedly didn’t live up to the expectations set for him by the Leeds coaching staff? His football career does not include playing for the Tottenham Hotspur first team this spring.
According to Alasdair Gold, Spence has been banished to train with Tottenham’s U21 team until he finds a new club, either permanently or as a loan player.
Ouch. If you’re reading this news charitably, the point is that he can’t go out on loan if he gets any first team minutes at Spurs (as happened with Dan Scarlett), so keeping him out of the first team will increase his chances of securing a second loan this month.
But that doesn’t explain why he’s not in first team training at all, and that’s really aggravating. Big Ange brings talented youngsters to first-team training all the time if he thinks they deserve a chance, even if he has no intention of playing in matches.
We also know that Postecoglou was not impressed with Spence last summer, which is why he sent him out on loan in the first place. The fact that he was sent to train with the U21 national team can hardly be seen as a rather damning indictment of his future prospects at this football club.
For Djed’s sake, I hope he manages to secure his departure before the end of the month, otherwise he will certainly not have a very entertaining spring.