Archie Gray and Joe Rodon sign contracts amid formal Leeds United and Tottenham transfer update
Archie Gray and Joe Rodon have both now signed their contracts to move to Tottenham and Leeds United respectively, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The Italian journalist reported via Twitter on 2 July that “formal steps” will now follow for the two transfers as the Whites teenager heads to the Premier League for £40million while the Spurs defender returns to Elland Road on a £10m permanent move.
Rodon’s paperwork had reportedly been delayed by the fact that he is in the US [The Athletic, 1 July], but it emerged late on Monday night that documents had been sorted [Alasdair Gold, 1 July], and the same can be said for former Thorp Arch star Gray.
The 18-year-old’s deal in North London is a long-term one for six years, according to the Daily Mail on 1 July.
Leeds United and Spurs moves signed as announcements near
The fact that Gray had already been to Brentford over the weekend for a medical before a move to the west of London collapsed on the basis of the structure of the deal [Guardian, 30 June] showed that nothing can be taken for granted during the transfer window.
And another Whites move has already fallen through since then [Adam Pope, 1 July], but it doesn’t look like anything will now get in the way of Gray’s or Rodon’s.
Daniel Farke will be disappointed to see the teenager depart, although probably not as much as the Whites supporters, having brought him into the first team last term and entrusted him with plenty of responsibility throughout.
Gray repaid him virtually from start to finish over a highly-impressive debut campaign, and that brought with it the inevitable interest from the Premier League.
Had Farke managed to take Leeds United back to the top flight then there would surely have been a decent chance that the academy product stayed in place, and there was even hope that he might do so this summer anyway.
But that hasn’t proven to be the case so the manager will have to focus on the positive that Welsh international Rodon will be back at Elland Road after an excellent season in loan.
In other Leeds United news, a Whites ace has accepted a pay cut to play for the team again.
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