Patrick Bamford is now Leeds United’s oldest outfield player and so despite not being part of the leadership group, is a huge part of the dressing room.
Ethan Ampadu, Illan Meslier and Pascal Struijk were all handed captaincy roles by Daniel Farke last month, despite the fact Bamford has worn the armband for Leeds on several occasions.
Bamford will be a key point of reference for what is the youngest squads in the league and will have been through countless pre-seasons where he has seen several of his teammates depart.
This summer has arguably been the worst in a long time at Elland Road for player exits, with Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter all major losses to the squad.
Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas have left too and their departures will have also been tough to deal with, but more so for their off-field responsibilities.
Bamford shares what he told Gray
Gray was Leeds’ first big money exit of the summer following the play-off final defeat to Southampton and it would be fair to say it did not go down well.
The 18-year-old was the best youngster to come out of the academy in several years and so to see him sold after just one season in the first team was difficult to take.
However, in terms of his career, a move to Tottenham was always going to be difficult to turn down, particularly given that he is already on the radar of England’s senior side.
Speaking on the latest episode of the ‘My Mate’s A Footballer Podcast‘, Bamford was asked about how difficult it is for a squad to deal with players leaving.
Leeds’ number nine admitted it always felt likely Gray would be on his way out and revealed exactly what he told him over the phone once his move to Tottenham was all but finalised.
He said: “When you lose someone, you generally know the season before that person is going to leave because they’ve had a good season and know what they’re capable of and someone’s going to try and pinch them…
“We knew that he [Gray] was going to move somewhere. With Archie Gray, we only probably knew the day before though. He was linked with Brentford, and he was kind of humming and harring, and we didn’t know what was going to happen.
“But then when the Spurs thing came about, that was quick. I literally rang him once we knew he was going and said, ‘look, you deserve it. Congratulations, wishing him well and telling him to keep doing what he’s doing.’
“Two days after I rang him, he came back into see the lads and say bye because Tottenham weren’t due to start until a couple of days later. It’s not just the lads in the first team he came to say bye to, but also the people in the academy who helped him.”
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Gray already making an impression at Spurs
You only have to look at his start to life at Tottenham to know Gray was ready to make the step up even after just one year in the first team at Leeds.
It would’ve been incredible if Leeds were able to keep him for another season in the Championship, but unfortunately, that is the nature of football these days.
Gray made his competitive Spurs debut from the bench at Leicester City on Monday night and was praised by the local media for his cameo.
That is after he enjoyed an excellent pre-season in which he also played a couple of games at centre-back.
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