Archie Gray is ready for more at Leeds United after stunning U23s goal
Archie Gray might have only celebrated his 16th birthday on Saturday, but he is already turning heads at Leeds United with some stunning displays.
Despite his very young age, he is playing Under-23s football for the Whites and starring in the process.
It’s not been a one-off for the Englishman whose latest eye-catching performance came in front of a bumper 10,000 crowd at Elland Road against rivals Manchester United.
The 16-year-old took advantage of the Red Devils’ goalkeeper being off his line late into the game to ever so coolly loft the ball into the corner from all of 35 yards out to put Mark Jackson’s side 3-0 to the good.
He also inspired the second goal, scored by Max Dean, as he pressed Tunisia senior international Hannibal Mejbri into a mistake having only come on to replace the injured Lewis Bate after 50 minutes.
Maybe his fresh legs helped his game-changing performance but there was more than 10,000 people at the ground last night who weren’t playing and none of them would have made such an impact.
This season is almost certainly too soon for him to be a regular feature in Jesse Marsch’s first-team despite his wonderful individual brilliance at youth level.
The American head coach was in attendance at LS11 last night though and will have certainly made a note of Gray’s excellence off the bench.
All his individual talent on the night was only the second most impressive thing about him though as he managed to do all of that in front of such a big crowd.
He will have never played in front of that many people before so to come out and do that is a sign of the temperament of the teenager.
Marsch has to get his development right because he could be a superstar in world football if he is managed correctly.
In other Leeds United news, a famous Whites fan has made a surprising admission about Sunday’s win against Norwich City.