Daniel Farke prioritises 'class' in Leeds United Djed Spence exit but reveals crucial expectations involved — YEP 5/1/24

Leeds United Daniel Farke insists that 'nothing major' led to Djed Spence's surprise return to Tottenham Hotspur but says the club's values are all-important when it comes to recruitment.

By Graham Smyth

The Whites announced on Thursday evening that Spence would return to his parent club and club sources confirmed that it was they, not Spurs, who had triggered the recall clause.

Spence arrived at Elland Road without the benefit of a pre-season or match action at Spurs and though he caught the eye with an impressive 10-minute cameo against Sheffield Wednesday in September he almost immediately picked up a knee injury. That problem kept him out for two months and when he was finally fit to start he had to do so at left-back, due to fitness issues for Sam Byram and Junior Firpo. Spence made one start in his more natural right-back role, in the 1-0 defeat at West Brom, and was subsequently dropped for New Year's Day's win over Birmingham City.

Farke says the club took stock after the Christmas period and came to a decision to send Spence back to London. When asked why, he replied: "Nothing major, we have decided right now after there was a little bit of time after the New Year's game, we've analysed the first half of the season and the impressions over the festive period. Obviously when you make decisions in January, it's not a short-term situation. We wanted to take the impressions over the festive period into account and share thoughts, discuss things and we came to the conclusion that we will end the loan for Djed and he will return back. We're grateful for his time here. We wish him all the best. A player with great potential, a cool guy with a great heart."

Though Farke was reticent to go into the intimate details behind the club's decision, he did talk about the importance of players meeting his expectations on and off the pitch. "I don't want to talk too much about Djed right now, because he's meanwhile also back at Tottenham, that I totally respect that he's their player," he said.

"Listen, 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 in several topics important. Obviously it's important, the potential and the quality of the player but also it's professionalism, it's discipline, it's workload on and off the pitch and also the soft skills, so also if he's positive and committed, good for the group and engaged with these topics, paint then more or less a picture. And we decided okay, this is the player we want in our group and want to represent Leeds United, our demands are very, very high and we don't differ between loan players, permanent players so we are pretty picky in this topic."

But the manager did note the challenges Spence faced during his short spell at Elland Road and reiterated how highly he rates the defender's potential.

"It's fair to say there is no player in the world who is perfect in all aspects and these players have strengths and weaknesses and we have to decide what we want," he said.

"We came to the decision it's for us as a club to end the loan. When we make such a decision on such a day it's important I don't speak about what was missing with Djed Spence because I want to handle such a situation with class. We say thanks a lot with your service and your work, but he's a cool guy and a good kid and we wish him well from the bottom of my heart because he's a good player. I'm far away from criticise him or speaking about what is missing. This is not my style and his style.

"It was not easy and a bit unlucky for him because he came in pretty late and to suffer a long-term injury was also unlucky and no one can be blamed for that. Of course when a player comes in on loan the first few weeks are important because you're training alone and it's hard to integrate. Also something tragic happened in his private life and he had to stay in London, we cannot accuse a player for that.

"When he did come back he had to help on the left side due to the injuries to Junior Firpo and Sam Byram. These lads don't need any sympathy because they live a privileged life and earn so much money. Some other players have to play unusual positions, Archie Gray for example as a midfield player delivering many top performances, I think of Leicester for example, the same as Jamie Shackleton and Sam Byram who are also right-footed players and everyone speaks about Sam more as a left-back than a right-back. It's a privileged position to be a professional footballer but I also want to highlight it wasn't the easiest position for him and sometimes you have to say it was unlucky that it didn't work out.

"It doesn't take away that we think Djed has big potential and he was involved in one really good game against Ipswich when he played a major part in our big win. If it was just for that massive three points it was worth bringing him in but we felt right now it was the right decision to end the loan."

As for a potential replacement, Farke has offered no guarantee that Leeds will go into the market to strengthen at right-back. He does, however, admit that the injury concerns, both current and historic, over some of his full-back options is a slight concern and a cause to stay alert for prime opportunities in the January transfer window.

"Yes, a little bit. That was one of the reasons we chose the option to bring Djed in. It's difficult in January to get the perfection solutions. We are aware Sam and Junior has a record with injuries. But we're into a period of one game a week so it will be more relaxed.

"We will also watch closely what happens over the next week and if there is an emergency or a special case it is our responsibility to make sure we create the best possible squad, but we won't do anything stupid. We were able to be pretty successful with the first 18 game days when we didn't have Djed. He had this long-term injury that kept him out for eight weeks. There is no emergency case. We won't fall asleep. If there is an opportunity we will analyse and assess. We're just doing things we're 100 per cent convinced of."