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Leeds United’s academy graduate has enjoyed an impressive debut season at Tottenham Hotspur.
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Djed Spence insists there is no limit on the level former Leeds United and current Tottenham Hotspur teammate Archie Gray can reach.
Spence has had a rare inside track on Gray’s individual development though his first two years in senior football, having spent the first-half of last season on loan at Elland Road before reuniting with the teenager in north London. Spurs signed the latter in a £40million deal from Leeds last summer but few would have expected him to be playing Premier League football with his former teammate.
Even fewer would have expected Gray to be playing alongside Spence at the back, with the 18-year-old’s impressive versatility put to the test during a long spell in central defence during an injury crisis at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. But despite the huge step up from Championship to Premier League, and yet another positional change, the Thorp Arch academy graduate has been like a duck to water.
Djed Spence on Spurs teammate Archie Gray
Leeds fans have known for a long time how high their former star’s potential is but standout performances in the Premier League and Europe have caught the eye of a much wider audience. Spence is the only other professional footballer to work alongside Gray in Yorkshire and London, and he expects the teenager to go on to do great things.
“The sky is the limit for him to be honest,” Spence told Rio Ferdinand Presents on YouTube. “I forget he’s 18 sometimes. Sometimes I have to look at myself, the opposition he’s playing against at 18. He’s a midfielder playing centre-back, and he’s doing well. He’s a great talent.”
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Spence is earning plenty of praise himself this season, with the full-back battling his way back into Ange Postecoglou’s first-team plans. The 24-year-old was expected to leave Tottenham permanently following three difficult loan spells at Rennes, Leeds and Genoa but has instead become one of the top-flight club’s most consistent performers of an admittedly difficult campaign.
Spence opens up on ‘hard’ loan spells including at Leeds United
A season-long loan switch to Leeds was cut short by the Championship club last January, with manager Daniel Farke explaining the importance of club values when explaining the decision. A six-month move to Genoa failed to set the world alight either, and Spence has opened up on the difficulties of moving around multiple times.
“It wasn’t easy, I went to Tottenham to play but things didn't work out,” the full-back added. “It's hard because you've got to move out, I went abroad so I had to move abroad. No friends when you go abroad because there’s no one there. My family stayed in London. So you go, meet your new teammates and then leave, meet another set of teammates, yeah you’re just not settled.
“When I went to Leeds, they said the [Spurs] manager hasn't seen much of me so I need to go out and play, prove myself sort of thing. That's when I went to Leeds, that didn't quite work out, obviously I got an injury and stuff.”
Asked which loan move he enjoyed most, Spence told Rio Ferdinand presents: “Genoa, I felt loved when I was a Genoa so it was nice.”