Leeds United boss Daniel Farke has praised Tottenham Hotspur loanee Djed Spence for impressing in training of late.
Leeds United continued their push for promotion back to the Premier League by beating Swansea City 3-1 on Wednesday night.
The Whites went behind inside a minute as Jamie Paterson lobbed the ball home, only for Joel Piroe to level it up against his former club.
Georginio Rutter made it 2-1 before Daniel James – another former Swansea City player – found the net to seal a 3-1 victory.
Daniel Farke hails Tottenham Hotspur loanee Died Spence
Leeds sit third in the Championship table, seven points adrift of an automatic promotion spot.
Farke has so much quality at his disposal that we can’t rule out the idea of Leeds closing that gap as the season develops.
One major boost for Leeds is that right back Djed Spence is now on his way back from injury.
Farke told The Athletic’s Phil Hay in September that Spence had suffered knee ligament damage and would be out for ‘several weeks’.
More than two months on, Spence still hasn’t made his return for Leeds – but he was on the bench against Swansea on Wednesday night.
Spence looks to be closing in on a comeback and Farke has now told Leeds Live that he fully deserved to be part of the squad against Swansea.
Farke felt that it was ‘no gift’ because Spence has been progressing well and has been ‘quite impressive’ in training of late.
The German sees opportunities for Spence in the coming weeks and is seemingly excited to add him to the Leeds side moving forward.
“Yes, it was no gift,” said Farke. “Djed is 11 or 12 days in training and you can see him growing more or less from training session to training session. He also gained some fitness obviously after such a long-term injury and also after such a difficult pre-season for him so he can’t be there with 100 per cent but today we got the feeling he deserves already to be in the squad because the last days and training he was quite on it and it was quite impressive for that we decided today to have Djed as an option also with us.”
“Yes, if he works that concentrated and focused, especially on this fitness level, because we don’t have to talk about this potential and his quality, he has proved this on this level, but if you work further on that, focused and concentrated in training each and every day and also to gain more and more rhythm. Yes, also good chances in the upcoming weeks to be involved with game time,” he added.
Tottenham will be looking for Djed Spence to kick on
Spence is on loan from Tottenham Hotspur just like Leeds teammate Joe Rodon.
Whilst Rodon has become an Elland Road favourite, fans are still waiting to see Spence in action.
Tottenham will be delighted with Rodon; Leeds may seek a permanent deal for the Welshman because he has been so impressive.
Spurs may want the same for Spence, who has made little impact for Tottenham since joining from Middlesbrough last year.
A loan move to Rennes didn’t push Spence towards the first team and Ange Postecoglou seemingly didn’t see a role for him at Tottenham.
Pedro Porro and Emerson Royal are battling it out at Spurs, so it’s hard to see how Spence can get into the side – and a permanent exit in 2024 may be on the cards, especially if he can impress at Leeds.
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