Aaron Lennon knows the path Archie Gray took in moving from Leeds United to Tottenham Hotspur and now he believes the teenager can become a midfield star in N17.
Both players moved to Spurs at 18-years-old from the West Yorkshire club and in both cases, almost 20 years apart, they made the switch to help out Leeds financially in tough times. Lennon moved to Tottenham in 2005 for a cut-price £1million and would star for the north London side for a decade while Gray sealed his transfer for £40million last summer, a deal that many within the club believe could end up being a bargain.
Gray has already got far more game time than expected, playing 36 times this season at centre-back, right-back and left-back to help fill the gaps in Ange Postecoglou's injury-ravaged team this season even if the teen had yet to play in the midfield role that is expected to be his long-term future.
Gray is one of a number of young players brought into the Australian's squad this season and Lennon, who will play for Spurs Legends against their AC Milan counterparts on Sunday March 23 in aid of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, can see some similarities between the refreshes at Tottenham at the start and end of his time at the club, under Martin Jol in 2005 and then 2014 under Mauricio Pochettino.
"A little bit, there's a lot of good young players. Obviously I know Archie quite well from his Leeds days. I'd watched him a lot. I knew how good he was. It's even shocked me how good he's been this season again and what he's gone on to. He's taken it to another level, and especially in the positions he's had to play," he said.
"There's a few similarities there and they've got [Lucas] Bergvall, who is obviously a quality player. [Djed] Spence has been brilliant coming in now, and you've got Mikey Moore. They've got a lot of talented young lads. Is it going that way [with the youth rebuilds of the past], I'm not quite sure, but they've definitely got potentially some really, really top players."
Lennon worked as an academy coach with Leeds' under-18s last season and the Elland Road club was awash with excitement about the potential of Gray, who was with the first team and impressing as many people off the pitch as he did on it.
"When I went back to Leeds in the back end of the last season, he was just with the first team, but around the place he was always a great lad. The staff who had had him before spoke so highly of him just as an individual," Lennon said. "They were just like 'Aaron, trust me, you won't meet a better lad', that he was an unbelievable pro but just such a nice kid, and he strikes me as that.
"I watched him play a lot at full-back for Leeds, but I've also watched him a lot playing in the middle of the park. I think his best position is still in the middle. When he played against Chelsea for Leeds he was honestly unbelievable.
"So for me, he's still going to be a central midfielder, and I'm actually gutted for him that he's not managed to get more minutes there because I do think he could have a big influence on this team playing in the centre of the park. Obviously with the injury problems, he's had to fill in in various roles, which he's done unbelievably well at.
"I think his time will come. I think if you ask him, he'll say where he wants to play, he'll tell you in the middle of the park, and once the injured players come back and it might be next season now, who knows,, but I think it will be amazing to see Archie get in the centre of the pitch."
It's all in the DNA for the Gray gang, with Lennon adding: "They're a fantastic family. Eddie Gray was one of my youth coaches at reserve level. Eddie was one of the coaches at Leeds and still obviously a legend at Leeds. So he was one of my first reserve managers and Nick Gray, his cousin, also played in the year above me at Leeds. There's his dad Andy. They're a family of footballers, their genes are incredible."
Gray's versatility has been a key strength in his first two seasons as a professional and that's something that Lennon knows all about. As a young right winger, he was used by Jol on the left side at times in order to improve his ability with both feet and give him a better understanding of the game.
"100% [it's important to not be one dimensional]. Martin was great. One of the main reasons he used me on the left was he just thought it would help me get into better scoring positions, but I enjoyed it," said the former England international. "I didn't mind because I was not so bad on my left foot. I started to improve because he wanted me to also go on the outside and then cross with my left.
"It's so important to be able to go both ways as a wide player, and play along the line, even probably more so these days, because it's not really wingers anymore. You're pretty small with the 4-2-3-1 formation, you're more just like a wide forward, so to speak. You probably do less defending, which I had to do probably more of as a wide player in my day in a 4-4-2, but no, it's massively important for any young player.
"I always tell them, look, if you can be confident on both sides, it's going to help you. If you can go inside and outside, it gives you much more opportunities, and then if you can use your weaker foot to cross or to shoot, it's a massive tool to have in the locker."
He added: "It used to be a standard 4-4-2 when I was coming through. You'd have two big strikers and you could literally hug the touchline as a player like me. I remember managers saying to me 'stand on the touchline'.
"Literally stand on the touchline, get out wide and 'get the ball to Aaron, beat your man and cross it'. And that was how it was when I first came through, it obviously started to evolve with different managers coming into the game and a lot of systems changing and most clubs started to evolve into 4-2-3-1, and you started to just adapt your position, playing a lot more inside, picking the ball up in between the pockets, in between the lines.
"The funny thing with me is I started out as a striker. As a young kid, I'd never played out wide. I only played out wide when I got into the first team because we had two big number nines when I was at Leeds, so I'd always played off a striker basically as the number 10.
"It wasn't until I broke into the first team that I actually became a wide player and I had quite a lot of success early on in my career and then it just stuck. I actually preferred playing more central."
One player remains at Tottenham from Lennon's time at the north London club and that's Ben Davies, with the Welshman surpassing his former team-mate's decade in N17 to reach 11 years this summer. Lennon has a lot of time for the 31-year-old defender and believes he will become a coach in the near future.
"Son was just arriving as I was leaving but it's probably only Ben now looking at the squad," he said. "Ben's been unbelievable, absolutely amazing, another great lad by the way, an absolute legend, a fantastic professional and still going strong.
"You never think about that [making a decade at a club] with anyone these days, because football's changed so much. I think even when I had reached it at Spurs, people were just shocked when you say you've been at the club for 10 years. It happens, but it's so rare now in football, especially with new managers coming in. You can have a new manager, you're not his cup of tea, see you later.
"That's how football's changed. So for Ben to do that is magnificent, but it doesn't surprise me because Ben is really an underrated player. He's a top player, top professional, can cover numerous positions and also a really, really good footballer.
"I'm buzzing for Ben because he's a great lad. Last time I was down there I actually bumped into him, had a little chat with him. He's still going strong, but he's a great, great lad, always has been. He's quite far in his badges because I was chatting to him a little bit about the coaching badges as well. Ben will definitely go into coaching. I'd expect it because he'd be good at that."