'Trust me I know' - Nile Ranger's sobering advice for ex-Leeds United man after loan disaster

Former Newcastle United forward Nile Ranger has sent some stark advice to Djed Spence following his difficult loan spell with Leeds United. Spence joined Leeds last summer on loan from Tottenham Hotspur in the hope of building some momentum in his career once more.

Unfortunately, a knee injury saw him miss much of his first three months at Elland Road, but just a month or so after his return to the fold, Leeds made the decision to pull the plug on his loan deal. As such, Spence returned to north London at the start of January before being used as a makeweight in the club's deal to sign Radu Dragusin from Genoa, with the full-back joining the Serie A side on loan.

However, since his loan was terminated, there have been reports of Spence's ill-discipline at Thorp Arch, with the Athletic claiming the decision was made after he arrived late to a meeting with Daniel Farke which was organised to discuss his poor attitude and punctuality.

It's a tale that pushed Nile Ranger, whose struggle to stay on the straight and narrow effectively ended his Premier League career, into action on social media.

“Fix up lad, ASAP," Ranger wrote in reply to a Sport Bible post about Spence on Instagram. "Trust me, I know.”

Ranger was once regarded as one of the brightest young prospects in England and made 51 appearances for Newcastle before the age of 23. But, a number of incidents significantly hindered his time at St James' Park and after seeing his deal with the Magpies cut short, he went on to struggle for traction through various spells in the lower leagues.

The former England U19 international is 32 now but hasn't had a club since being released from Boreham Wood in July 2022.

Spence has made three appearances for Genoa since joining the club last month, with his second outing being cut short at half-time due to tactical reasons. However, Alberto Gilardino named him in the the starting line-up once more against Empoli on Saturday and not only did he last 90 minutes, he almost scored what would have been the only goal of the game, seeing an effort blocked on the line.

The full-back will remain with Genoa until the end of the season and he'll be keen to build up the type of form he showed on a regular basis while representing Nottingham Forest in the Championship during the 2021-22 campaign.