"Absolutely unbelievable" - EFL pundit makes claim on Leeds United's Archie Gray | OneFootball

Leeds United continued their relentless pursuit of the automatic promotion places with a 2-0 win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday, with Archie Gray yet again shining for Leeds.

Relegation was a tough pill to swallow for the club at the end of last season, but the overall reset that followed has benefitted many aspects of the club, and not least the opportunity that has presented itself to Gray in the process, who has become a regular for Daniel Farke.

Gray has taken the opportunity with both hands and is enjoying his first season as a professional player. He has been involved in 21 of Leeds' 22 games in all competitions as either a right-back or central-midfielder and is catching the eye of many of Europe's elite.

His quality performances continued over the weekend, and Ewood Park saw him collect his first assist for his boyhood club, with the 17-year-old combining high up the pitch with Georginio Rutter before expertly putting the ball through for Crysencio Summerville to make it 2-0 in the second-half and seal the points for the away side.

Leeds have won nine of the last 11 games, and Gray has been a huge asset to the side during that run, predominantly occupying a right-back berth. His hard work was rewarded, despite the fact he was perhaps unlucky not to be given the assist against Middlesbrough in Leeds' previous game, but his cross deflected and he was not credited with the creation of the chance.

Here, he showed exactly why he has been a midfielder for most of his young career, by playing a quick one-two, and then sliding the ball into the Dutchman's path at speed with ease.

Ali Maxwell's Archie Gray verdict

Ali Maxwell of the Not The Top 20 podcast was full of praise for Gray and outlined how much more there is to come, with Leeds also televised for much of the festive period.

He said: "What pleases me the most [about Leeds] is that they're starting a 17-year-old in every game and he looks absolutely unbelievable.

"Having started in a central-midfield role, and sort of eased out of that area of the pitch with Glen Kamara developing his partnership with Ethan Ampadu. Now, [Farke's] shifted him to right-back.

"He's not worried about Luke Ayling or Djed Spence. He wants 17-year-old Archie Gray to play there, because he is so good on the ball. Particularly these days when you're a dominant team, it is your full-backs and centre-backs who have the majority of the touches of the ball in your team. "Therefore, having someone who can dictate the play in those sorts of areas makes quite a lot of sense. He's a very, very hard worker out of possession. "You can imagine he's just desperate to impress, to improve, and seems to be doing that every single week. "His assist here for Summerville with the outside of his right foot, just really, really excellent technique. His first goal contribution in the league this season.

"We're loving a bit of Archie Gray. There's some big games coming up in the next few weeks in the Championship, so it would be good to see more of him shining live on the [television] box and getting more recognition."

Archie Gray's potential

Gray has all the tools to make it to the Premier League and has been one of the best aspects of relegation to the second tier, allowing him to play so regularly and develop rapidly.

Gray is best placed where he is, improving by the game with Leeds and playing regular football in West Yorkshire with his family around him constantly.

He is adored by the Elland Road faithful already, and not simply for being born into a famous Leeds footballing family which includes Eddie Gray as his great uncle, Frank Gray his grandfather, and Andy Gray his father.