Reliable Leeds United journalist Phil Hay has suggested that Daniel Farke may soon fully unleash a promising youngster, as he also makes a comparison with exciting breakthrough starlet Archie Gray.
The 18-year-old is now a Leeds mainstay and ever-present in Farke’s starting elevens, with the Whites chasing immediate promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
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Daniel Farke’s side have further incentive for promotion.
Gray has started the overwhelming majority of his appearances this season and has really impressed, with Farke stating that the sky is the limit for him.
“All the praise has to go to Archie,” said Farke on Gray’s performances this season. “You can work with a player, back the player and trust the player, but we can only bring him to the door and he has to make that step through it. How he’s done that, with the maturity and consistency he has, is outstanding for a 17-year-old.
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Leeds’ upcoming fixtures in battle for promotion |
Date |
|---|---|
|
Sunderland (home) |
April 9th |
|
Blackburn Rovers (home) |
April 13th |
|
Middlesbrough (away) |
April 22nd |
|
QPR (away) |
April 26th |
|
Southampton (home) |
May 4th |
“He’s still unbelievably grounded, humble and has good habits. That is so crucial that you don’t get over the moon after just one or two good games or a couple of good months. It is so far, so good. But quality is always defined over the long term, and he has to keep going in order to speak about a really quality season.
“I’ve worked throughout my career with fantastic young players. I don’t like to compare that much, but it is fantastic what he’s doing. When you are that young and getting that much praise it is not always easy to handle, but he’s so, so grounded and so open to developing and working hard each day.
“The experience in his family helps a lot, and I have to give many compliments to the Gray family. They are doing fantastically well with him.”
Gray has been praised by others on countless occasions this season as well, and has played a key role in Leeds’ battle for a top-two spot. However, there are other Elland Road academy prospects who could find themselves in the spotlight alongside Gray soon.
Hay tips Farke to fully unleash Joseph soon
One of them is Mateo Joseph, who has featured regularly off the bench for Leeds this season. Reliable journalist Hay suggests that Farke could fully unleash Joseph at Leeds soon by offering up starting opportunities.
“He’s becoming a really big impact player off the bench and I don’t think it’s going to take too much time before he starts to put himself strongly in contention to start as well,” said Hay on The Square Ball podcast.
“For the time being the structure with Bamford up front is what’s worked really well for Farke since January, and he shows no inclination to shift away from that, or to move back towards a set up with Piroe in the team.
“But Joseph is starting to look a little bit like Archie Gray, I mean Archie Gray looks like the superior player of the two, but one of those academy players who you’re going to see a lot of as time goes on.”
