Furious Leeds United fans have vowed to turn their back on the club for good should teenage superstar Archie Gray make the ‘unforgivable’ and ’embarrassing’ move to Brentford.
Brentford stole a march on Premier League rivals Arsenal and Tottenham on Saturday night with boyhood Leeds fan Gray travelling down to undergo a medical ahead of a £35million deal, which could rise to £40m with add-ons. On Sunday, Mail Sport understands that offer was officially rejected.
Gray, who has followed in the footsteps of his great-uncle Eddie, his grandfather Frank, and his father Andy in playing for Leeds, could see his dream of guiding the Yorkshire side to the very top crushed as the club’s American owners chase a big-money sale to satisfy the Championship’s Profitability & Sustainability rules.
It has been suggested that Eddie Gray, a club legend who was part of the Don Revie dynasty in the 1960s and ’70s, has been devastated by the club’s willingness to sell his great-nephew. The future of Gray’s younger brother Harry, a superstar in the club’s academy, will also come under intense scrutiny should Archie depart.
One irate Leeds fan posted: ‘James Milner, Aaron Lennon, Fabian Delph, Lewis Cook… Four Yorkshire kids who between them won a combined 103 caps for England and every domestic honour… but all with other clubs because we sold them as teenagers. Why don’t we ever f***ing learn?’
Leeds fans have been left furious at the idea 18-year-old Archie Gray (centre) could be sold
The boyhood Leeds fan, who has been on the books since the U9s, is a target for Brentford
Furious fans have turned on the club’s owners for the idea of selling of a generational talent
Another furious fan, Dan Wood, wrote: ‘Archie Gray is Leeds, his family is in our DNA. At 18 he’s already one of, if not the most loved player of the fans. And we have let him go! There are no words, football is nothing but ££ now, I’m heartbroken. F**k our club, f**k our owners for letting this happen.’
Leeds supporter Andy Loone took his anger even further, claiming the current owners would drive him away from the club should the Gray deal, as expected, go through today.
‘If Archie Gray gets sold I’m 100% done supporting #lufc,’ he posted.Â
‘This decision is undefendable, rips the heart out of the club I have passionately supported for over 50 years. The arseholes in charge should hang there [sic] heads in shame.’
Leeds’ hierarchy have been growing increasingly aware in recent weeks that they are at risk of sanctions for potentially breaching spending rules and must make a sale to fall in line.
Profit & Sustainability rules dictate just how much a club can lose financially in a calendar year – they have caught out Everton, Leicester and Nottingham Forest in recent seasons. Earlier this week Mail Sport detailed how Newcastle were open to selling England winger Anthony Gordon in a bid to ease their own concerns.
The P&S spending year comes to an end on July 1 and clubs in danger of breaking those rules, such as Leeds, are scrambling to finalise deals over the weekend.
But cashing in on Gray, who is already on Gareth Southgate’s radar for England, rather than one of their other big-name stars, such as Crysencio Summerville, has disillusioned a fan-base who felt they were witnessing a potential club great blossom in front of their eyes.
The teenager’s sale is being rushed through by the owners to satisfy league spending rules
Many wanted Gray to be kept at all costs but Leeds need money to satisfy spending rules
There is now plenty of criticism being levelled at Paraag Marathe, chairman of Leeds after the 49ers completed a takeover, and he will be made to justify the decision to sell a fan favourite
‘Gray is a Bellingham-esque generational talent, easily worth 70+ million within 2 years. Sell Summerville. Sell Gnonto. Sell Meslier. Sell anyone but him,’ Jacques, another disappointed Leeds fan, posted after news of the deal broke.
Gray, 18, joined Leeds as an under-nine, the earliest opportunity for English clubs to formally recruit players.
Through his lineage, which includes his younger brother Harry thriving in Leeds’ academy, he had been on the radar from very young and was famously a mascot as a six-year-old for Leeds’ 2012 Capital One Cup quarter-final clash against Chelsea.
Gray has set records through his meteoric rise. In December 2021, at the age of 15 years and 281 days, the teenager became the club’s youngest ever player to appear in a senior matchday squad when Marcelo Bielsa named him on the bench for a Premier League clash versus Arsenal.
At 17, with safeguarding rules in place meaning he was unable to use the same changing facilities as his team-mates, made his debut in the 2023-24 Championship opener against Cardiff City at Elland Road.
His outstanding display saw fans unanimously vote him Player of the Match.
Gray, who only signed a long-term deal in January, has continually voiced his happiness at playing for Leeds and how he wants to remain with the club, synonymous in his family tree, for as long as possible. It now appears that decision has been taken from his hands.
Gray’s family tree is synonymous with Leeds United, meaning his exit stings for fans even more
There is a mural on Heath Mount which is dedicated to club legend Eddie Gray (pictured)
The 18-year-old is seen as a generational talent and showed his skill against Chelsea in FA Cup
‘Supporting Leeds and following the club my whole life, it’s just a dream come true,’ he said after penning that long-term deal, which now appears to have been a way to protect his value.
‘It means a lot to me and my family, the club trust me and trust my family and hopefully I can repay it.’
Asked by the Guardian six months ago what his footballing dream is Gray was unequivocal in response.
‘My childhood dream was to win the Champions League with Leeds, captain England at senior level and win a Ballon d’Or,’ he said.
‘I’m still really young, so there’s a long way to go before any of that happens. But I believe I’ve got the ability to do it.’
The pupil at St John Fisher High School in Harrogate, who was also crowned the Championship’s Young Player of the Season, recently finished his A-Level exams and now could find himself starting over in London much to the consternation of fans who see Leeds as a much bigger draw than Brentford.
‘Archie Gray, a Leeds lad, leaving his family club where his great uncle is a legend at, to go to BRENTFORD of all places, would be a very sad representation of how the sport has evolved in the 21st century,’ a Leeds United fan-page posted.
Gray was devastated at Wembley after Leeds failed to win promotion to the Premier League
Yorkshire Post writer Leon Wobschall wrote in his own verdict: ‘Don’t use this word lightly and respect to the Brentford story, but if Archie Gray moves there, its embarrassing.’
It was May 2022 when a 16-year-old Gray celebrated wildly inside Brentford’s away dressing room after Leeds secured Premier League survival on a dramatic day, before dashing home to sit a geography GCSE exam at 9am the following day.
Now, with his studies finished and his footballing superstardom hitting even greater heights, he could be heading back to west London, only this time as a home player.