Leeds United’s chief executive officer Angus Kinnear has insisted the club did not have to sell Archie Gray to Tottenham Hotspur.
Among the most controversial aspects of the summer transfer window at Elland Road was the sale of homegrown hero Gray. He sealed a move to Tottenham for a reported £40m after a spectacular breakthrough season in West Yorkshire.
The club attracted criticism in the aftermath of sale, with frustration intensified by the rather messy way in which he left. Gray had initially appeared Brentford-bound, before it quickly transpired he was in fact heading for Tottenham.
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Speaking to The Square Ball, Kinnear conceded Leeds needed to generate money through player sales but that Gray did not necessarily have to be the sacrificial lamb.
He said “If you look at our overall PSR [profit and sustainability] picture, we did need to make sales across the window. Archie is very valuable from a PSR perspective because he’s an academy product, so there is no amortisation, there’s no book value to him at all. So all of the revenue generated from the sale goes to hit the PSR target.
"The PSR targets are really cruel. To come down from a world were you have a gap from one three-year rolling number to another three-year rolling number, plus the fact you lose all your TV revenue makes it really challenging to stay within those limits, which we have done, but the only way is to sell players.
"It could have been Pascal [Struijk], Willy [Gnonto], Max Wober, but the reality is when you get relegated, every single club has to sell players. We didn't need cash, but there was a PSR gap and we had the issue of players wanting to leave.
"Two key sales would have done it, it didn't need to be before June 30. We didn't have to sell Archie Gray.”
Gray, who at 18 is already part of the first-team picture at Tottenham, was a regular fixture at right-back throughout the 2023/24 campaign.
The teenager and his father, former Leeds forward Andy Gray, have been hailed by Kinnear for the way in which they handled the departure.
Kinnear said: “Leeds United didn't approach any club to sell Archie Gray. Normally you offer a player around or speak to the agent, we could have kept Archie Gray.
"The deal is life-changing and Archie and his dad handled the situation impeccably. He wasn't forced out and we said if it doesn't feel right come back and train, but we don't begrudge him that move."
Leeds have plugged the right-back gap with the signing of Jayden Bogle, who was prised from Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United.
Kinnear said: “We think we’ve been able to get a right-back that will be able to perform this season at the same level as Archie Gray for an eighth of the value that we generated for Archie.”