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PRESS RELEASE SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN (Ross Heppenstall) Fri 8 Dec 2023 08.00 GMT
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It is the end of a long day for Archie Gray and the 17-year-old is sitting in the canteen at Leeds United’s Thorp Arch training ground, reflecting on a rise that has marked him out as one of the best young prospects in the British game.
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The boyhood Leeds fan has been at the club since he was seven, made the bench for a Premier League game against Arsenal aged 15 and is a regular in a side chasing an instant top-flight return.
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Gray made his debut in the Championship opener at home to Cardiff on 6 August and has featured in all but one of Leeds’s 21 games this season, starting 18. The precociously talented 6ft 2in midfielder, who has captained England at youth level, is tipped for the very top. That his father, Andy, grandfather Frank and great-uncle Eddie played for Leeds adds huge intrigue to his rise.
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Photograph: Gary Calton/The Guardian
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“I’m a bit too young to remember many of my dad’s games but I’ve watched clips of him, Frank and Eddie on YouTube,” Gray, the eldest of four brothers, says in his first major newspaper interview. “I love watching Eddie’s goal against Burnley when he went past about four players and scored. Seeing what they achieved is inspiring and makes you want to go one better. As a family we’re really close.”
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So highly rated was Gray by the former Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa that he was brought into the first-team squad two years ago while studying for his GCSEs.
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“Bielsa wanted me to train probably every day,” says Gray, whose composure and skill on the pitch are matched by calm assuredness off it. “Some weeks I’d be in school two days a week, other times it would be three days. The club and school had to come to an agreement but I passed my exams, so it worked out well.”
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When Gray was an unused substitute for an injury-hit Leeds against Arsenal at Elland Road in December 2021 it was clear his star was on the rise. “Just being on the bench was absolutely mental because I was 15,” he says with a huge smile. “My friends and people in school started looking up to me and from that moment everything changed.
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Photograph: Gary Calton/The Guardian
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“One day I’m in the stands and watching the games on TV as a fan and then I’m on the bench in a Premier League game against Arsenal. These guys were my heroes and I’m training with them – it was unreal. You watch everyone in training and learn so much.”
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Was he disappointed not to come on against Arsenal? “Deep down, I wasn’t expecting to because it was Arsenal and I was still at school. It wouldn’t really be normal for a 15-year-old to be playing first-team football or even make his debut. I just realised how lucky I was to be in that position and to be patient.”
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Gray was injured for much of last season as Leeds were relegated after three years in the Premier League, but the summer heralded a new era. 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers, took 100% control of the club and Daniel Farke arrived as manager.
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After a slow start, Farke has led a youthful side to third after seven straight home wins. They will be backed by more than 7,000 supporters at Blackburn on Saturday lunchtime.
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“My dad has always said that pre-season is the time to make a good first impression on the manager and that starts with your fitness. I worked really hard and tried to impress in pre-season, then made my debut against Cardiff and thought I did OK.
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“Obviously I was proud of myself but I didn’t really celebrate – we just went out for a meal as a family. I’ve still got so much more to prove and to improve on, but the manager has been brilliant and put so much faith in me. In pre-season I set a goal of playing as much as possible but I’ve definitely exceeded my expectations.”
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Photograph: Gary Calton/The Guardian
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Gray played alongside the new signing Ethan Ampadu in midfield before being switched to right-back in early October. It has not fazed the teenager, who says the on-loan Tottenham defender Joe Rodon has helped him adapt.
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“It’s good to learn different perspectives of the game,” Gray says. “Playing right-back is allowing me to understand the game even more for when I go back into midfield. You see players like James Milner playing different positions every game.
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“If I become anywhere near as good as him it would be unbelievable. I think my best position will be as a box-to-box midfielder but, as the game is changing, you have to be increasingly adaptable.”
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Until Gray turns 18 he must use a separate changing room from the first-team squad owing to safeguarding regulations. “It’s crazy getting changed by yourself but then running out to play with your teammates,” he says. “It is what it is, but as soon as I turn 18 I can’t wait to be around the lads a bit more.”
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As a young child Gray was influenced by Zinedine Zidane and Lionel Messi and says his mum, Giorgina, and Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham are among his biggest inspirations now.
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“My mum works unbelievably hard; she runs marathons and trains every single day,” he says. “Bellingham is definitely a player I look up to because he’s doing amazingly well. He’s shown there’s a pathway with the England system and he won’t be the last one to do it. Hopefully in the future that can happen for me too.”
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Gray’s younger brother Harry, a 15-year-old striker, plays for Leeds’s academy and for England at youth level. “I wouldn’t tell him this myself, but it’s my dream to play with Harry one day,” says Gray. “I just don’t know how we’d get along in training as we’re so competitive in everything we do and always have been. We’d have to be on the same team but as brothers we’re really close.”
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Deeply grounded but fiercely ambitious, Gray says: “My childhood dream was to win the Champions League with Leeds, captain England at senior level and win a Ballon d’Or. I’m still really young, so there’s a long way to go before any of that happens. But I believe I’ve got the ability to do it.”
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