It has been a long time coming but Archie Gray was finally handed his full Premier League debut for Tottenham five months on from his Leeds United exit.
Gray was brought into replace Pedro Porro at right-back for Spurs’ trip to Bournemouth, which is the position he has spent much of his professional career in since breaking through at Leeds.
All seven of Gray’s starts for Spurs prior to Thursday night had come in either the Europa League or Carabao Cup, with minutes considerably harder to come by in the Premier League.
Such was his struggle for game time domestically, there had even been some suggestion Gray could leave Spurs on loan in January, but that won’t be happening.
In fact, Ange Postecoglou’s comments on Gray after last week’s 2-2 draw with AS Roma show how highly he is rated at Spurs despite that not necessarily being reflected on the pitch yet.
Spurs media rate Gray’s full Premier League debut
Unfortunately for Gray, his full Premier League debut won’t be one he remembers too fondly as Spurs were beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth.
Gray was coming up against former Leeds teammate Tyler Adams at the Vitality Stadium and it would be fair to say it was a dominant performance by the home side, even if the score-line didn’t show it.
Bournemouth missed chance after chance to put the game to bed and Spurs fans certainly recognised the nature of their sub-par performance, with both the players and Postecoglou receiving plenty of criticism from the away end at full-time.
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However, according to Football.London, Gray is one of the players who can hold his head up high, particularly considering it was his first start.
Around the hour-mark, Gray was forced to fill in at left-centre back after Ben Davies’ injury and so was praised for giving ‘everything’ in an unnatural position.
They wrote: “Archie Gray – The 18-year-old raced back to make a perfect sliding challenge on the breaking Kluivert in the first half. Switched to playing as the left centre-back after Davies went off. He gave everything in an unnatural role for him. 6.”
Gray could start at centre-back vs Chelsea
Centre-back certainly wasn’t a role Gray every played during his time at Leeds, but clearly Postecoglou feels he has the attributes in his locker to do it fairly well.
And Gray may well have to do so again on Sunday when Spurs face Chelsea, with Davies joining both Micky Van de Ven and Cristian Romero on the sidelines.
If none of those three players are fit to return in time, Postecoglou may be left with no other choice than to play Gray, who will be tasked with marking the likes of Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer.
It has to be said, it is difficult to see how this move to Spurs has really aided his development considering his best position remains midfield, and he just won’t ever get the chance to play there.