Daniel Farke has confirmed Djed Spence will get some minutes on the pitch for Leeds United in the coming weeks as long as he continues to work hard on his fitness.
Spence returned to the bench for the first time since September on Wednesday night as Leeds got back to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Swansea City.
It has now been nearly two weeks since Spence returned to training during the international break, but Farke opted against handing him some late minutes against the Swans.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, though, Farke says Spence has shown a really good level in training in recent days and will gradually receive more minutes if he continues working hard.
Spence has spent a long time on the sidelines and so will take a few matches to get fully up to speed, having had a less than ideal pre-season at Tottenham, and just 10 minutes on the pitch for Leeds.
Spence to give Leeds whole new dynamic
Farke believes there is absolutely no doubting Spence’s ability to make an impact at this level, but wants to ensure he is fully up to speed before chucking him into action.
“Yes, it was no gift. 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.
“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.
“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.”
It would’ve been nice to see Spence come off the bench in midweek with Leeds in a comfortable position in the game, but ultimately Farke knows best.
With such a busy period of fixtures to come in December, Leeds will desperately need Spence at full tilt and so clearly want to avoid rushing him back.
Spence could provide Farke’s side with a completely new dynamic down that right hand side both in attack and defence, with none of Leeds’ current right-back options possessing his pace and dribbling ability.
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