Spurs defender Djed Spence is training with under-21s after loan deal was terminated

It appears Djed Spence will not feature for Tottenham Hotspur's first-team this season after the defender was sent to train with their Under-21s.

The 23-year-old full-back, who signed for Spurs from Middlesbrough in July 2022 for an initial £12.5 million, joined Championship side Leeds on a season-long loan in August.

But after being restricted to just seven league appearances after being sidelined for over two months with a knee injury, Spence's loan was cut short in January.

Spence, who has played just six times for Tottenham since his move, is now training with the club's Under-21s until he can secure a move away, according to football.london.

In fact, Fabrizio Romano says the North London club are already planning to loan the player out again for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign.

If Spence did play for Spurs again this season, then a loan move would be ruled out as you cannot play for three different clubs in the same campaign.

So why was Spence's loan terminated earlier this month? Leeds boss Daniel Farke recently suggested concerns over his attitude was one of the reasons.

"I don't want to talk too much about Djed right now, because he's back at Tottenham and I totally respect that he's their player," he began.

"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."

Farke added: "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."

Image credit: Getty

Spence is expected to complete a loan move away from Spurs in the coming days.

Topics: Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League, Ange Postecoglou, Transfers, Leeds United

Jack Kenmare

Senior Journalist at SPORTbible with a passion for long-form journalism. Almost 10 years’ experience across online and print.

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