Archie Gray and his family’s legacy at Leeds United has made his move to Tottenham Hotspur all the more difficult to take.
Gray officially completed his move to North London earlier today having put pen-to-paper on a six-year-deal after an agreement was reached between the two clubs for around £40 million.
Leeds have always known since the failure to win promotion that a major player sale was needed in order to remain compliant with PSR, but Gray was the one no one wanted to lose.
In the official statement announcing Gray’s departure, Leeds explained how ‘heartbroken’ they are to see him depart, though the club are now in a stronger position for another automatic promotion push.
Until it became clear interest was the most significant in the 18-year-old, Leeds had actually been more open to the sales of Crysencio Summerville, Willy Gnonto and Illan Meslier.
How Gray’s camp feel about Leeds’ handling of exit
Speculation surrounding Gray’s future has been rife ever since the play-off final, but only in the last week or so has it really ramped up.
At no stage did Gray ever look to force through an exit, though, and he had actually been open to staying despite Leeds’ failure to win promotion.
He spoke on several occasions across the course of last season about his dream of staying at Leeds long-term, and going onto achieve big things with his boyhood club.
Unfortunately, however, football is much more of a business these days and the achievement of being a one club man like his great uncle Eddie is a rarity.
Leeds simply had to make a sale to ensure they do not get charged by the EFL for breaches of PSR and with Gray attracting the most interest, he was the one who had to go.
But that does not make leaving Leeds at such an early stage in his career any easier, and according to the Athletic, Gray’s camp have been left frustrated at the club’s handling of his move.
The potential of Gray staying had remained a possibility until the very end but the pressure created as a result of Leeds’ handling of the situation meant a move had to happen.
Archie sale hopefully won’t impact brother Harry’s development
It is not great to hear that Gray’s camp aren’t overly happy about how Leeds have gone about it, given the family history.
Eddie is one of, if not the biggest legend in Leeds’ history. He still regularly attends matches and has an ambassadorial role and souring that relationship would be a huge own goal.
Archie’s younger brother Harry is still also in the academy at Leeds and is actually thought to be an even bigger talent than his sibling.
If this was to impact the chances of seeing him in Leeds’ first team that would be catastrophic.
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