Phil Hay has admitted he is fascinated by Jesse Marsch’s plan to have Archie Gray involved in the Leeds United first team.
Last season was the one in which more people started to recognise the name Archie Gray as he was named on the bench for Leeds under former manager Marcelo Bielsa when still just 15 – mainly because of the injury crisis which hit the Whites.
The midfielder looks to have made a very good impression at Thorp Arch and on Marsch as the American manager has taken him with the squad on their tour of Australia and has also admitted that he sees the midfielder as a senior option this season.
Hay, who was speaking on The Phil Hay Show, is intrigued by this decision by Marsch to have Gray in the first team picture.
Is Archie Gray good enough for Leeds?
Yes!
No!
The journalist said: “He’s looked incredibly good. I thought he was so effortless against Blackpool, he wasn’t really on the pitch long enough against Villa to be certain of how he was playing in that game and how it was going for him.
“But it does fascinate me that Marsch is basically saying he’s a first-team player now. He has been playing for the 21s clearly but he’s so young that he’s barely had the sort of graduation or the education in the academy that most players go through.”
TIF Thoughts on Gray…
It is quite the achievement for Gray to have made such an impact on Marsch at Leeds in such a short period of time, given that other younger players such as Lewis Bate, who was signed last season, are nowhere to be seen.
Gray did pick up an injury during Leeds’ friendly against Aston Villa though. Fortunately, however, Hay has claimed (3:30) that the knock sustained doesn’t appear to be too serious, despite the midfielder requiring a stretcher to get off the pitch.
Some might see it as a way to ‘toughen’ the lad up for future encounters with ‘chopper’ tackles. Maybe Marsh is aware that the injury is not so bad, I doubt he would risk harm’
With only a few weeks to the start of the season I wish I was reading about Leeds signing a decent new LB and striker. The LB is needed urgently before the first game.