"Wow" - Gordan Strachan makes Archie Gray claim as Arsenal eye Leeds United ace | OneFootball

Ex-Scotland boss Gordon Strachan has claimed that he hasn't been surprised by the level of top-flight interest that Leeds United's talented teenager Archie Gray has received.

Leeds' need to generate funds through sales is well known, and one of the top assets that clubs may look to poach is Gray. The 18-year-old impressed from the first time he stepped into Daniel Farke's starting XI in their opening game of the season against Cardiff City.

The youngster wasn't able to make enough of a difference to get Leeds back to the Premier League - they lost 1-0 to Southampton in the play-off final - but the quality that he possesses at his age makes him worthy of that level, even if his team aren't quite there.

Prior to the pivotal game at Wembley, there was an expectation that Gray would stay at Elland Road regardless of the outcome of the match. More recent reports from transfer expert Fabrizio Romano have said that movement is likely, and that some of the top clubs in England and Germany like the look of him.

Arsenal have been named as one of the teams interested in the midfielder by Romano. Fellow league runners-up Bayern Munich, who are now led by former Burnley coach Vincent Kompany, are also interested.

This news comes as no surprise to Strachan.

Gordon Strachan's verdict on Archie Gray

The former Manchester United and Coventry City player believes that the 18-year-old has everything that the top clubs would want to see from a player of his profile.

He said: "I've known about Archie and his brother for a long, long time. His brother is meant to be every bit as good as him. I know the Gray family very, very well. The Gray brothers have been on my radar because people I respect have told me about them; they’ve gone on and on about them.

"I’m thinking to myself, I’ve been hearing about how brilliant Archie could be since he was twelve. Your natural instinct is to question what you’ve heard because everyone always tells you stories about this youngster who is thirteen or fourteen – all of my mates at school were going to be professionals too (laughs) - but then I saw the boy play with my own eyes.

"Wow. It doesn’t matter where you put him, he can play there. He hasn’t been brilliant in every single game, but then that’s what you would expect from an eighteen-year-old. He’s a fantastic prospect. I like his intelligence. He's got the ability to play in different positions.

"This guy has got everything you want from a prospect. I can see why there are a lot of Premier League clubs that would like to take him."

Leeds' financial state may force them to bit the Archie Gray bullet

In today's era of financial regulations in football which judges teams based on their profits, selling academy players is the best way to balance the books.

They count towards your balance sheet as pure profit, as opposed to other players that have been brought in for a fee.

Purely looking at Leeds as a business, it makes the most sense to sell Gray, because it will probably get them closer to fiscal safety than any other of their other assets.

But of course that doesn't take into account the emotional factor. He's Leeds through and through, and it's hard to let go of these players, especially when they have the ability that he possesses.

United can't afford to be too emotional, that's often when misjudgements are made. It'll be painful if it happens, but they might not have any other choice.