Even better than Archie Gray: Leeds must rue selling £1m "animal"
da 888： Leeds United secured their promotion back to the Premier League at the second time of asking after they hammered Stoke City 6-0 last time out at Elland Road.
da betcris： The Whites ran riot in West Yorkshire, including a stunning four-goal haul from Joel Piroe in the first half, and then had their promotion sealed when Sheffield United lost to Burnley later that evening.
Daniel Farke would have been delighted with the quality and composure that his team showed on a day with so much pressure on it, as it gave them an incredibly enjoyable afternoon and evening.
It also provided the German head coach with the opportunity to hand 16-year-old forward Harry Gray a first-team debut, as he played eight minutes off the bench.
He will be looking to follow in his brother’s footsteps after Archie Gray played a whopping 52 first-team matches under Farke in the 2023/24 campaign, before his summer move to Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs reportedly agreed a fee of £30m to sign the England U21 international from Elland Road, and he has had an interesting first season at the top level.
Archie Gray's struggles at Spurs this season
The 19-year-old talent has had plenty of exposure to first-team football under Ange Postecoglou, playing 41 times and racking up the best part of 3,000 minutes in all competitions.
From that perspective, it has been an excellent season for the teenage gem because he now has plenty of experience at the top level, in the Premier League and the Europa League, and that could be useful for his development moving forward.
However, Gray has yet to produce consistent quality on the pitch when selected, and that is the next step that he has to take before Spurs can deem the £30m they spent on his services to be worthwhile.
The former Leeds starlet will not want to fall into the trap of being known as a utility player who can play in a multitude of roles without being particularly impressive in any one position.
24/25 Premier League
Archie Gray
Appearances
23
Goals
0
Big chances created
0
Assists
0
Tackles + interceptions per game
0.9
Error led to shot
1
Error led to goal
1
Duel success rate
47%
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, Gray has not excelled in or out of possession in the Premier League this season, offering very little at the top end of the pitch and struggling with the physicality of the league off the ball.
These statistics show that he has rarely made defensive interventions to keep teams out, and that he has created more goals for the opposition (one) through an error than he has directly created for his own team (zero).
This is not to say that, however, Gray is a flop for Spurs or that he will not go on to become a top player, because there is plenty of time left for him to develop and improve. Hopefully, his experiences and struggles this season will help him to kick on and deliver improved displays in the 2025/26 campaign and beyond, proving his worth in the process.
At this moment in time, though, the £30m Leeds raked in for the versatile star looks like good business. Whereas, there is another former Thorp Arch academy graduate whom the Whites seemingly undersold in Leif Davis.
Why Leeds United messed up with Leif Davis
The English defender, who joined the academy from Morecambe at U18 level, reportedly joined Ipswich Town on a permanent deal for a fee of at least £1m in the summer of 2022.
That came after he had only played 14 first-team matches for Leeds, as well as 15 games on loan at Bournemouth in the 2021/22 campaign, after coming up through the youth set-up, initially under Marcelo Bielsa.
Scott Parker described Davis as an “animal” during the defender’s loan spell at the Vitality Stadium, but his form for the Cherries was not good enough to prevent the Whites from selling him to Ipswich that summer.
That decision to move him to Portman Road for a fee of £1m has turned out to be a big blunder by Leeds because he has thrived in Suffolk, and is currently even better than Archie Gray.
Davis, now 25, has just been relegated back down to the Championship with Ipswich, but he did show plenty of promise with his performances in the Premier League and may have an eye on an instant return to the top-flight.
The English left-back provided 21 assists in 43 second-tier matches in the 2023/24 campaign, which showed that he was far too good to be playing at that level from a creative perspective.
24/25 Premier League
Leif Davis
Appearances
31
Goals
1
Big chances created
12
xA
4.18
Assists
2
Key passes per game
1.7
Stats via Sofascore
As you can see in the table above, Davis has been incredibly unfortunate in the Premier League this season because his teammates have only scored two goals from the 12 ‘big chances’ that he has created for them.
Unlike Gray, the former Leeds gem has excelled in an area of the game in the top-flight this term, as his statistics show that he has been an excellent creative outlet for the Tractor Boys and a shining light in possession in a dim campaign for them.
Whilst his defensive work is questionable, with one red card, three errors leading to shots, and two penalties committed, Davis has shown that he has the technical ability to play in the Premier League.
This is why Leeds messed up when they sold him for just £1m, because they lost an exciting talent who has shown enough potential to be a useful asset in the Premier League, even more so than Gray, who they sold for £30m, has in the current campaign.
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Leeds United could have a top star for the future in this highly rated youngster.
Davis has proven that Leeds messed up by cashing in on him before he had the chance to show what he could do with regular game time at Elland Road, and it is a shame that he left before Farke had a chance to work with his creative talent, certainly at Championship level.