Leeds don’t need to buy a £50m striker – they’ve already produced one | OneFootball

“He’s a Gray isn’t he!”

That was the reaction of Leeds United legend Eddie Gray when shown footage of his great-nephew’s latest piece of brilliance.

The Gray dynasty remains undefeated, and the latest talent off the Leeds United production line might well be the best since Eddie himself.

A bold claim for a player who hadn’t started a game in senior football until this year, but so far young Harry Gray is doing all the right things on a path to becoming a world-beater.

He only turned 17 in October. But like his older brother Archie, who spent almost a full season in Daniel Farke’s promotion-chasing Leeds team before he was old enough to buy a vape, this is the kind of prodigious talent you just can’t hold back.

Some – most – footballers are aided by continuing to play youth football at this age. But some outgrow it. With eight goals in 11 Under-18s Premier League appearances before six goals in seven Premier League 2 outings this season, Gray belongs in the latter category.

All too easy for him. He’s not learning anything playing against kids his own age. The time has come for Gray to test himself against proper centre-backs, but with Leeds fighting for their Premier League survival those opportunities were never going to arrive at his boyhood club this season.

A loan to Rotherham United, battling relegation in League One, is perfect. Thrown into the deep end when it comes to physicality – up against grizzled veterans of the Football League. Defenders who’d proudly describe themselves as b*stards to play against.

The decision to go there in itself is encouraging. He’s not gone for a cushy Championship loan, a promotion-chaser whereby he might get 20 minutes here or there, but he’s been thrust into a relegation battle.

You wonder if he’s had any words of advice from Leeds’ current No.9, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who credits an early loan to Stalybridge Celtic as the making of him.

“I signed two days prior to my debut and within 20 minutes I’d been smashed in the face with an elbow,” Calvert-Lewin recalled in 2017.

“I had a big black eye and went to A&E that night. That was my first taste of it and they said to me: ‘Welcome to non-league football.’

“I could hardly see but I played the full 90 minutes, scored two and set one up. From that moment on I knew I was going to enjoy it.

“I could have turned around and said ‘this ain’t for me’ but I rose to it. As soon as I got smashed in the face I wanted to smash the player that did it. That’s just the way I’ve been brought up.”

Gray appears to be relishing the challenge at Rotherham just as much, having made four successive starts since joining earlier this month.

After a chastening debut away to fourth-place Stockport, it hasn’t taken the teenager long to get to grips with the level.

He became the Millers’ all-time youngest goalscorer in a vital 2-1 victory over Northampton and has now scored in back-to-back games, having shone in a 4-0 thrashing away to Exeter City. The two wins have lifted Rotherham out of the relegation zone, when only a month ago the situation looked bleak.

The fans have quickly taken to the loanee, and he’s already being talked up as the club’s saviour this season.

“The fact that he’s the youngest-ever goalscorer in Rotherham United’s history is a phenomenal achievement,” manager Matt Hamshaw told BBC Radio Sheffield.

“You look at the history books of some of the good young players that they have had at this football club and the fact that he has broken that record is huge credit to him.

“We knew what we were getting. We were lucky that he’s chosen to come to this football club. We’re lucky to have him.

“I think he’s enjoying it. Whenever a player gets a goal it breeds confidence. I certainly think in these last couple of games you’ve seen that coming out of him.”

Back at his parent club, the question lingers as to whether they’ll break their transfer record to sign Jorgen Strand Larsen before the January transfer deadline passes. Crystal Palace’s uncertainty has potentially reopened that door.

Leeds look short in the striking department. An injury to Calvert-Lewin would be a disaster. But do Leeds really want to block Gray’s pathway?

It’s surely only a matter of time before their hottest prospect is back home, banging on the door, making a serious claim for minutes.