The 2023-24 season ended in heartbreak for Leeds United supporters, but the ride was thrilling. A key point during last season was the emergence of Archie Gray, who, even though he was only 18, became a crucial player for the squad.
Gray played in 52 matches across all competitions for Leeds last season, recording two assists. However, the teenager was a versatile player, playing as a right back and all over the midfield at various points.
During this past summer transfer window, Leeds United sold their potential budding star for a reported £30 million. Tottenham secured a standout who only scratched the ceiling of his potential.
Andy Gray reflects on Archie’s short first-team tenure at Leeds
In a perfect world, Leeds would have earned promotion last season by beating Southampton in the Championship Play-off Final and keeping Gray to allow him to become a prominent figure for his boyhood club.
Nonetheless, that didn’t happen, and Gray will now look to flourish at Tottenham. Still, the teenager’s short first-team tenure at Leeds is a moment that his father, Andy Gray, won’t forget.
“It was great to see him play for Leeds,” Andy told Sky Sports. ” I was very nervous at first, obviously being a Leeds supporter as well. It’s hard to detach yourself from being a supporter and a parent at the same time. Obviously it ended in tears at Wembley, but those are memories I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
Former Leeds man Stuart Dallas also provided praise for the teenager’s work ethic, which he believes can lead the player to stardom.
“I always tell a story about him that he’d have been given his program in the morning, and it would have been pretty long for him, but he was obviously still doing his education at the time,“ Dallas said. “So he’d have done one part of his gym program, and he went to do his education.
“Now, by the time his education would have finished, I was finished and I was gone and out of there. And every other player was gone. But I had returned in the evening time with my kids till they were in at the wee pre-academy. And when I had to come back, Archie had still have been in the gym and I had said to him, ‘What are you doing?‘ And he’d have been, he said to me, ‘I’m finishing off my program.’
“And that, to me, just showed that this kid wants it and he’s going to get it because anybody else would have been gone. There’s no coaches here, there’s no staff. I’ll go but he was finishing off his core or whatever he had to do. And that, to me, showed that he’s different, he’s special.”
