Disaster Leeds, Tottenham transfer agreement will be quickly forgotten, but it shouldn't be: View | OneFootball

Djed Spence should have been an excellent signing for the Whites, but things didn't work out for the full-back.

Following their relegation at the end of the 2022/23 season, Leeds United would have wanted to secure the right calibre of players to get themselves back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

In the right-back department, they had Luke Ayling, Sam Byram and Cody Drameh as natural options in that area at the time of Djed Spence's arrival during the latter stages of August.

During the previous month, Rasmus Kristensen had made a loan move away from Elland Road, and Drameh eventually went on to secure a loan exit to Birmingham City.

Byram, meanwhile, spent much more time at left-back than he did on the other side during the 2023/24 campaign. And Ayling signed for Middlesbrough on loan during the 2024 winter window.

With these factors in mind, Spence should have been a crucial player for the Whites, as a regular starter and a valuable contributor both defensively and offensively.

How Djed Spence's loan spell at Leeds United panned out

Spence, like many other signings made by Leeds last summer, joined the club after the season had already started.

Having had his game time limited at Tottenham Hotspur during the 2022/23 campaign and only appearing 10 times for former loan club Stade Rennais during the second half of that season, it was always going to take him a bit of time to get up to speed.

Unfortunately, he was unable to get himself back on track at Elland Road, appearing just seven times and failing to impress.

Those statistics tell the story, with the player failing to shine in the attacking third despite being part of a team that was chasing promotion.

In fairness to him, he did win 57% of his duels during his time in West Yorkshire and the full-back did show some bright flashes during his time in West Yorkshire, but he didn't make the impact he would have wanted to.

A report from The Athletic back in February claimed that manager Daniel Farke become unimpressed with the player's attitude and punctuality, potentially revealing why the player was sent back to Spurs in January.

The player, however, believes some reports about his attitude were blown out of proportion and cited the knee injury he sustained as a key reason why this move didn't work out.

Why Djed Spence should have been a big success at Leeds United

Archie Gray, who played at right-back most frequently for Leeds last term, is only 18 and started the campaign in central midfield.

With this in mind, Spence would have been hoping to start ahead of Gray regularly, considering the latter's natural position wasn't at full-back.

As well as this, Kristensen and Drameh had left during the 2023 summer window, which should have boosted his chances of starting regularly.

Regular starts should have given Spence the opportunity to thrive like he did at Nottingham Forest, when he became a crucial player under Steve Cooper.

He may have been utilised as a wing-back at the City Ground, giving him more of a license to get forward. But at Leeds, he was part of an attacking team under Farke and should have been able to make a big impact going forward.

Considering his age too, the full-back should have only got better during his time in West Yorkshire, but he was unable to show why Spurs spent up to £20m to recruit him just a couple of years ago.

The opportunity for him to shine was there to grasp, but he failed to take it and he will go down as a very forgettable signing for Farke's side, even though he looked to be an excellent addition when he joined.

Fingers will be pointed at the player but Leeds, too, must shoulder some of the responsibility for not getting the best out of a loan deal that looked as though it could have been huge for their promotion hopes.