9th October 2022; Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace, London, England; Premier League football, Crystal Palace versus Leeds United: Pascal Struijk of Leeds United celebrates with his team mates after scoring his sides 1st goal in the 10th minute to make it 0-1 - Photo by Icon sport
Djed Spence is up against an unexpected challenge to earn a place in Daniel Farke’s Leeds United squad.
The right-back appeared in just nine minutes for Leeds before suffering a knee injury. In midweek, he returned to the matchday squad for the first time since August, but he was an unused substitute in the wins over Swansea and Middlesbrough.
The absence of the Tottenham Hotspur loanee, combined with Jamie Schackleton’s injury, provided Archie Gray with an opportunity to fill an unfamiliar role. Given that Spence was widely regarded as the Championship’s best right-back two seasons ago, the teeanger was viewed as a stand-in.
However, in the win over Middlesbrough, Gray, 17, demonstrated that he is settling into his new role by making a number of attacking runs that pinned the visitors back and assisting Cysencio Summerville’s goal. Gray’s performance was lauded by former Leeds manager Neil Redfearn following the win at Elland Road.
“He’s just so calm. And he is aware of what is going on around him when he is receiving it,” Redfearn told BBC Radio Leeds. “He just dropped his shoulder and got away from defenders a few times.” I got some key balls in, assisted on the second goal, and had a great ball in.
Obviously, he’ll develop into a midfielder as his career progresses. But you wouldn’t think so right now. He appears to be a seasoned right-back. And he has no trouble playing there. He was excellent today, in my opinion.”
Spence will almost certainly get a chance to stake his claim as Leeds navigate their hectic December schedule. However, Farke has already stated that Spence must continue to prove himself in training, so it may not be the smooth return to the team that many fans had hoped for.
“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,” the Leeds manager said following his team’s victory over Swansea
“If he works that concentrated and focused, especially on this fitness level, because we don’t have to talk about his potential and quality, he has proven it on this level, but if you work further on that, focused and concentrated in training every day and also to gain more and more rhythm.” Yes, there will be opportunities to participate in game time in the coming weeks.”
