Daniel Farke has often tried to be cautious in managing Archie Gray’s minutes at Leeds United this season.
Gray has enjoyed a breakthrough year at his boyhood club and has quickly established himself as a key player, starting 33 of Leeds’ 38 Championship matches.
Despite only turning 18, Gray has rarely ever been handed a rest this season and even during international breaks, has always been flying across Europe with one of England’s youth sides.
Most recently he was over in Azerbaijan with the U21s for the first time, where he took just five minutes to open his account for Lee Carsley’s side in a 5-1 win.
Given his age, Leeds fans have been quick to point out between matches that he may need a rest but that just has not been the case, and it is fair to say he has taken everything thrown at him in his stride.
Bamford shares what Gray does the day after a game which none of his teammates can
Gray was actually speaking with Patrick Bamford on the latest episode of his ‘My Mate’s A Footballer’ Podcast with Joe Wilkinson, who for this particular one, was actually at Thorp Arch.
Wilkinson went and spoke with a number of Bamford’s teammates over the course of the episode, one of which was Gray, having actually seemingly been in attendance at the recent win over Stoke City.
That is just one of five matches in which Gray has not started this season and Wilkinson was keen to know why he was not in the starting XI.
Gray gave a typically modest answer about how it was important for him to be handed a rest after a busy schedule, but Bamford was having none of it.
Gray said: “I have just played loads of minutes and my body is just…”
Bamford interrupted: “Don’t lie, you know every day after a game everyone is tired, he comes in and can play again.”
Bamford reveals what Gray always says about his younger brother
This is just one of a number of stories Bamford has enjoyed sharing about Gray on his podcast, and all of them seem to paint him in a good, humble light.
Gray has been winning all kinds of praise for his performances this season, yet Bamford revealed last week how the 18-year-old is constantly telling everyone how his younger brother is actually a better player.
He said: “Archie, the good thing about him as well is he’s so humble and doesn’t really, he believes in his ability, but I don’t think he knows how good he is.
“He has a younger brother who’s in the academy, I think he’s only like 14 [15], but he’s always like, ‘yeah, he’s better than me’. He must be unbelievable then.”
