Archie Gray has told football.london that his family played a big part in his decision to join Tottenham Hotspur and his new captain Son Heung-min was handed a key role in helping him settle in by a former team-mate.
The 18-year-old Spurs signing is one of the most exciting young talents in English football and was being chased by clubs across Europe this summer after Leeds' play-off final defeat ended their hopes of returning to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Gray played 52 times for his hometown club across that campaign, the young midfielder filling in at right-back for plenty of those games.
His performances were so impressive across the pitch that he earned the Championship Young Player of the Season award and was namechecked by then England boss Gareth Southgate as one for the future, while others compared his ability to the likes of Premier League legend Steven Gerrard.
He only turned 17 towards the end of last season but ask most of his Leeds and England youth team-mates who the best player they have played with is and they will say Archie Gray.
Leeds' financial needs following their missed promotion and a release clause in Gray's contract because of that failure meant his exit suddenly became more likely than not. Brentford looked to have tied up a deal ahead of everyone with a medical scheduled and a more gradual ascent for Gray from the Championship, only for their attempts to collapse as they could not agree the structure of the financial payments. Tottenham swooped in and quickly sealed a £40million package deal for the talented teenager with Joe Rodon heading in the opposite direction.
Gray comes from great footballing stock. His father Andy came through at Leeds and played for Nottingham Forest, Bradford, Sheffield United and Burnley among others, while his Glaswegian grandfather Frank was a legend at both Leeds and Forest, winning the European Cup with the latter and was a finalist in the same competition with the former while winning silverware galore across his career. To boot, Archie is also the great nephew of former Leeds legend Eddie Gray.
So when Tottenham became involved in the transfer race, the decision very much became a family affair and there was only going to be one winning club.
"At the start of the window I didn’t really know anything about [a potential transfer anywhere] and I was content to stay at Leeds, but as soon as I heard Tottenham were coming in I was like ‘I need to go there', Gray told football.london. "It’s a huge club and my dad said that too. He came to my room one morning and said 'look, you’ve got to go to Spurs. It’s a massive club'.
"My grandad was saying it as well, he’s obviously done pretty well in his career, and he said at some point you've got to go to one of the biggest clubs in England and he thinks now is the right time and he thinks Spurs is a massive club as well. So, with people who have been advising me my whole life, I have to listen to them and I also wanted to do it too, so that was definitely a massive thing and since then I’ve enjoyed every second of it. So, definitely happy that I made that decision."
The Ange Postecoglou factor was also there with Gray enjoying one of the Australian's famous pre-signing chats which often seem to do the trick for prospective new arrivals.
"It was just really positive and most of it was football, but he was getting to know what I was like as a person," said the teenager. "Hopefully I came across really well but it’s a massive factor that the manager's here and I've been following him for a while, since he was at Celtic and one of my U21 managers went to the Australian league so even since then I’ve been following him so, yeah, he’s a massive factor."
The Gray family have two loves, Leeds but also Celtic thanks to Frank's upbringing, so Postecoglou was already a very well known name within the household.
"Obviously I’ve got a Leeds family and I support them too, but yeah my grandad and dad played for Scotland and supported Celtic. When Ange was there I enjoyed watching them and I still do now," said Gray.
When football.london meets the teenager he has been greeting and playing with children and families from Yokohama Children’s Hospice, alongside fellow new Spurs arrival Lucas Bergvall and Dejan Kulusevski, Pedro Porro and Alejo Veliz.
There's something very disarming about Gray. He's very tall and without doubt, he is probably the nicest 18-year-old you'll ever meet, confident, enthusiastic and always grinning yet incredibly polite and he relished playing with the Japanese children as if they were part of his own family.
It's that bubbly, polite personality that helped him settle quickly into life inside the Tottenham camp and while all of the buzz inside the club has been about how good he's going to be this season, let alone for the years to come, it is Gray himself who has quickly made a positive impression on his team-mates and all of them appear to have taken to the teenager.
"I’m really enjoying it and everyone’s been brilliant with me so far. I wouldn’t say I’m the hardest guy to get along with, I’m pretty laid back and pretty easy to speak to, but everyone’s been amazing with me and I’m enjoying the first few weeks," he said.
One player in particular was set a special task to look after Gray by a former Tottenham defender and it just so happened that task fell to Gray's favourite current Spurs star and skipper Son.
"On the pitch and off the pitch, he's been helping me, it’s just little things. He is really good friends with Joe Rodon and last year when Joe was at Leeds I was probably the closest with Joe when he joined and I think when I came here Joe told Sonny to look after me a little bit," he said. "He’s making me feel really welcome and just with little things like helping me speak to everyone and helping me into the group."
Gray also counts Gareth Bale and Harry Kane among his favourite Spurs players of the past but he is a massive admirer of Son and he's got no qualms about saying so.
"There’s nothing that he could improve on. Every day he sets the standard in training and I look up to him and I feel like I’m lucky to have a player like that in the team and for him to be captain is just incredible," said the youngster. "I can’t speak highly enough of him. You know his quality in games, he’s been showing it for ten years now and internationally he’s been amazing. I don’t usually like speaking that highly of people in the same team as me, because it feels weird, but he's incredible."
The early days of pre-season have been an eye-opener for the youngster when it comes to the step up to the pace and power of the Premier League and on top of that Postecoglou's relentless, attacking brand of football. Gray has also had to take that on board while dealing with the heat and humidity of Tokyo during the club's pre-season tour, which will move on to South Korea and Seoul next.
"Yeah, definitely [it's a step up]. It’s the manager’s style of play. Just end to end stuff and it’s been really intense training and I think it’s been really good for everyone, you know, to get the fitness levels up, but for me to get used to the style of football has been a big thing and I’ve been enjoying it so far," he said. "On the first day [the heat in Tokyo] was pretty tough but I think I’m used to it now so it’s alright."
The big question for many is where Gray will end up playing on the pitch because he will play plenty of minutes this season. Most believe he will end up in midfield, some predict as a number six and others as a box-to-box midfielder such is the wide spread of his abilities. He also starred as a right-back last season for Leeds, completing more tackles than any other player aged 21 and under in the Championship across the campaign.
Just to show off his versatility even further, the teen has been playing at centre-back for the first time in his career this pre-season due to the unavailability of some players who have been at international tournaments. He could also be seen filling in as a left-back during open training in Tokyo on Friday evening.
So has Postecoglou told him which position he sees him playing the most in this season for Tottenham?
"No and to be honest with you I’m not bothered and while I think it’s good to think of where I’m going to end up playing, I don’t really care. I think I’ve got a best position, but I probably don’t and in my head I can play anywhere except for goalkeeper," he said with a laugh. "I’m just enjoying it. Wherever he puts me on the pitch, I’ll do that to the best of my ability and I don’t really care where I play."
So where is his best position in his head?
"Somewhere in midfield, but last year I played right-back and I’d probably say there as well. From the two games I’ve played so far it’s probably centre-back at the moment! I don’t really know," he admitted.
Last season a remarkable midfield display against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup, while still just 17, showed exactly how good Gray already is as he dominated the ball against the Blues' £100million midfielders and it showed everyone that he will be absolutely fine in the surroundings of the Premier League and up against the big boys.
Thinking back on that game and what it means for him going forward, he said: "To be honest, I’m just excited. It will obviously be different to the Championship. In some ways it will be harder and that Chelsea game was really good and unfortunately we didn’t win, but I thought we did really well. Individually, I thought I did pretty well and hopefully showed that I can play in the Premier League and against teams like that."
Gray is looking forward to hearing one of Postecoglou's famed, inspirational team talks, having only heard the pre-season versions thus far.
"I've probably not experienced them in full effect yet, as it’s pre-season, but I’m definitely very excited to experience one of those and hopefully I can experience many of them," he said.
The Durham-born midfielder has high hopes for the future and among those is to follow in his famous family's footsteps and start racking up the silverware.
"Well, my grandad and dad did the same thing [in stepping out of the family legacy at Leeds]. My grandad, Eddie, created the Leeds legacy and it’s incredible what he did for them, but my grandad and my dad both left Leeds at an early age and my grandad went on to achieve unbelievable things," he explained.
"What now is the Champions League, he won that with Nottingham Forest, who were competing for titles and hopefully I can do a similar thing and that’s what I want to do – I want to try to get the most trophies in my family and hopefully that can be with Spurs."
Gray believes Tottenham this season should be and will be aiming high.
"Definitely competing for titles. They’re in the Europa League and in the Premier League, we’ve got a good chance to go at that this season. We’ve got a really good squad and we’ve been working really hard in pre-season but we’ve just got to take it game-by-game," he said.
"Last year I was lucky enough to be competing for a title, so I know what it’s like to be competing with teams at the top of a league and you’ve just got to focus on every game and you can’t be looking too far ahead. Obviously you've got to set goals, but you've got to take it game-by-game and, now, we're just focusing on the next pre-season game."
On his own personal goals, he added: "For next season it's just to improve as much as I can as an 18-year-old and play as many games this year, and try to help the squad push for things, in whatever way that is - if it’s training or in games. My long term goal is to win titles for Tottenham."
The now £40million midfield is being modest about his game time this season. He might only be 18-years-old but write Gray off as simply 'one for the future' at your peril. Ask anyone that has played alongside the youngster or coached him and the response is always the same - 'incredible'.
Archie Gray is a player for the now and Tottenham are going to quickly see the benefits of what is likely to be one of their biggest transfer coups of recent years.