Manchester City are reportedly keeping tabs on Leeds United teenager Archie Gray, who made the bench in the Whites opening Premier League fixture against Wolves.
According to the Athletic, the reigning English champions are monitoring the 16-year-old prospect, who is regarded by many as one of the many exciting talents Leeds currently have coming through at the club, though Gray is yet to play a single professional minute for the senior squad.
A part of Leeds pre-season team this summer, Gray is an England U-17 international who could one day become a regular in the Premier League should he kick on with his development in the coming years, and now, the attacking midfielder’s talents have caught the eye of Manchester giants City.
The Premier League champions have one of the biggest youth recruitment schemes in the country, with City this summer signing talents from the likes of Everton as the U-21 side sold close to £30m worth of talent, and Gray could now one day become a part of the Cityzen’s impressive youth set-up in the next few years.
With Phil Foden an academy graduate and one of the best players in the Premier League, City have seemingly found the secret formula to producing quality talents and how to coach them correctly, and whilst signing Gray one day from Leeds will be a struggle given the midfielder’s incredible reputation, the youngster could be tempted to move to Manchester.
Indeed, City have this season seen Cole Palmer make the permanent step from the U-21s to the senior squad, and for Gray, the playmaker could view himself as a talent who could one day play for one of the biggest clubs in the country in Pep Guardiola’s side, though staying at Leeds should, for now, remain the phenom’s sole objective.
Manchester City should wait before signing Leeds starlet Archie Gray
Labelled by Jesse Marsch as an ‘incredible’ talent, Gray is a youngster with the world at his feet, and interest so early in his career from City is a promising sign of how far the teenager can go in his career if he sticks to the path ahead of him and takes to senior training like it’s his last day playing football.
We have been in this position many times before where a youngster has caught the attention of a major side at the very start of their careers, and for Gray, the 16-year-old has the potential to become a star in the Premier League, but only if he remains committed to working hard in training and impressing his peers.
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