Rumours of Tottenham Hotspur defender Djed Spence having a bad attitude have been quashed after he returned to North London with a transformed mindset following an eye-opening spell in Italy, according to journalist Jay Harris.
The 24-year-old has enjoyed a career revival under Ange Postecoglou in recent weeks, and according to Harris, it may be down to his impactful spell in Serie A during the 2023/24 season.
He revealed that Spence has matured significantly following his loan at Genoa, where he played against some of the biggest clubs in Italy, and the experience made him realise he needed to ‘knuckle down’ to succeed at the highest level.
Spence has been a regular for Spurs amid their injury crisis this season, making 18 appearances and registering three goal involvements across all competitions.
Djed Spence Reborn at Tottenham
After an impactful spell at Genoa
Harris, speaking on The View from The Lane podcast, revealed that Spence’s recent spell at Genoa helped him save his Tottenham career:
“I’ve spoken to people who know him quite well, and they’ve said that Spence is a bit introverted, and he can be quite aloof.
“And so there are times when people probably have misinterpreted that as him not caring or him having a bad attitude. But I think what we’re seeing before us now is a 24-year-old who was a young boy.
“He’s a young man now. Apparently, during his time in Italy with Genoa, that was quite a powerful experience for him because Leeds didn’t work out for a number of different issues, but mainly because he had quite a bad knee injury, which ruled him out, I think, for two and a half months, three months in total.
“So he’s gone from barely getting a game in the championship to playing at the San Siro twice with Genoa.
“And so he’s returning to Spurs, and he’s thinking, 'wow, if I want to kick on with my career at the highest level, I seriously need to knuckle down'. He did that.”
Spence was linked with a permanent Tottenham exit last year but managed to convince Postecoglou to give him another chance with the senior squad.
The London-born ace has enjoyed regular Premier League minutes recently, starting in six of the last eight games and also impressing against Manchester United last weekend.
He has now been tipped to ‘start every game for Spurs’, despite injury absentee Destiny Udogie nearing his return to first-team action.
Tottenham have climbed up to 12th in the Premier League following their United win and will next face Ipswich Town away on Saturday.
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