Archie Gray has been named the Young Player of the Year at the London Football Awards.
The teenager has had to deal with his fair share of adversity in his debut season at Tottenham Hotspur, filling in in an unfamiliar position at centre-back for much of the campaign due to Spurs' horrendous run of injuries.
Gray joined Spurs in a £40million deal from Leeds United in the summer, that saw Joe Rodon go the other way. And he has been one of the mainstays of the team due to the injury list, something which has surprised him.
Speaking to BBC Radio London after picking up his award, for which he beat the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri at Arsenal, Gray admitted it has been tough this season.
He said: "It's been different, it's a big jump from Leeds in the Championship to the Premier League and the amount of games we've had this year it's definitely been a challenge."
The sheer volume of games should not surprise Gray, who played 50 times for Leeds United last season as a 17-year-old. More likely is the fact he was not expecting, at 18, to be involved so much in the top flight in his debut campaign, having played 35 times already. It has been a case of needs must for head coach Ange Postecoglou though and Gray spoke about his boss too.
He added: "I'm grateful for the manager trusting me and putting me in these different positions, I've always said I don't really care where I play, or what position it is on the pitch, I'll always work my hardest and wherever the manager puts me, he knows best and I believe in him 100%."
Gray has started 19 of Spurs' last 20 matches in all competitions, with 16 of those coming in that centre-back role. Tottenham have had a difficult season, sitting 13th in the Premier League currently, but the emergence of Gray and other young players like Lucas Bergvall will stand them in good stead for future years.
Gray continued: "I've got a lot to learn, every game I can learn something different, I always watch the games back and analyse them.
"Credit to the coaches, they've been helping me out and people on the pitch, the centre-backs especially, Ben [Davies], Kevin [Danso], Cuti (Cristian Romero), Micky [van de Ven] they've always spoken me through every game and it would have been difficult if I didn't have such leaders and such experience in the game helping me out. I wouldn't have been able to do it."