When Djed Spence was loaned from Tottenham Hotspur early last week, Leeds United caused a stir.
Spence was just starting to find his rhythm after a long-term injury at Elland Road, but in a shock move Leeds decided to terminate his loan spell at the club.
Daniel Farke touched lightly on the reasons for Spence’s departure at a press conference last week, hinting at some attitude problems. Understandably, he did not want to go into too much detail.
However, Phil Hay tried to shed some light on the reasons behind Farke’s decision in the latest episode of the Square Ball Podcast, with Spence having since signed on loan at Genoa.
Hay claims that Farke wasn’t too happy with Spence’s performance in his appearances for Leeds, and there were also issues with time management off the pitch.
Hay sheds light on Spence’s departure:
He says: “Farke was careful not to throw him completely under the bus, but the biggest problem for Farke was the performance levels just weren’t quite right, it wasn’t what he was looking for, there were issues with lateness and things like that and in the end it made more sense for Leeds to send him back.”
Given the length of time he was absent, it is perhaps a bit harsh for Farke to criticise his level of performance so soon after his return.
Spence was excellent in the win over Ipswich Town, but was equally decent against Sunderland and Coventry City. However, there is no excuse for him constantly missing out.
His attitude problems were much talked about before he signed for Leeds in the summer and it seems he has yet to address them.
When he does, he will undoubtedly go on to have a great career and hopefully that will be in Genoa.