Tottenham Hotspur continue to land top talents for the future as Ange Postecoglou looks to build a side to challenge for years to come.
Tottenham Hotspur fans may have been hoping for major impact signings after narrowly missing out on the Champions League.
Timo Werner is back for another loan spell from RB Leipzig but Tottenham have mostly focused on signing teenagers so far.
Lucas Bergvall has started his Spurs career having agreed to sign from Djurgarden in February.
The Swede is already impressing and has been labelled ‘starboy’ by teammate Destiny Udogie.
Archie Gray has arrived from Leeds United too and he has just been followed by another 18-year-old with Tottenham confirming the signing of South Korean talent Yang Min-Hyuk.
Archie Gray on Joe Rodon
Yang is heading back to South Korea to continue his development but Gray may be thrust into Premier League action fairly quickly.
The teenager has featured prominently in pre-season games, featuring as a centre back – a fairly unfamiliar role.
Gray is usually a midfielder or right back but Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Radu Dragusin have been away after international tournaments.
Gray has impressed despite that surprise role and Tottenham fans are certainly excited about his development.
Ben Davies certainly likes what he has seen, stating that Spurs have signed an ‘incredibly talented’ player in Gray.
Joe Rodon – a Wales international teammate of Davies – spent last season playing alongside Gray at Leeds.
The centre back has now joined Leeds permanently, heading to Elland Road as Gray departed for North London.
Gray has now told Football London that Rodon spoke to Son Heung-min about Gray upon his arrival.
Gray believes that Rodon told Son to look after him, with the pair still close despite Rodon spending most of his Tottenham career out on loan.
Rodon and Gray were close at Leeds too, so the centre back put in a word to Spurs captain Son just to make sure that he would be welcomed into the group.
“On the pitch and off the pitch, he’s been helping me, it’s just little things,” said Gray. “He is really good friends with Joe Rodon and last year when Joe was at Leeds I was probably the closest with Joe when he joined and I think when I came here Joe told Sonny to look after me a little bit. He’s making me feel really welcome and just with little things like helping me speak to everyone and helping me into the group,” he added.
Joe Rodon looking out for Gray
Son is a great captain at Tottenham and would likely have welcomed Gray in brilliantly whether Rodon messaged him or not.
Still, Rodon wanted to make sure that Gray would fit in at Tottenham and took the steps to make it happen.
Rodon didn’t have too many chances to shine in a Tottenham shirt but few would really question his work ethic or mentality.
The Welshman simply had to leave in order to play regular first-team football once again and Leeds have given him that chance.
Rodon will still have one eye on Tottenham and especially Gray though, no doubt hoping that they thrive together in the coming years.
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