Leeds United may have regret they didn't see exciting duo more after recent Archie Gray comments: View | OneFootball

With two of Leeds' best young talents in recent memory being best friends off the pitch, should their Elland park tenure have overlapped more?

Leeds United have been among the best talent producers in the Football League since their reinstated Championship status in 2023.

Now at Tottenham Hotspur, 18-year-old Archie Gray is assuredly the highlight of the academy's triumphs in recent years, earning his boyhood club a reported £30m in the summer, a new record fee for an English teenager.

While Gray is patiently making his way through the Spurs ranks, this season, a new promising candidate for 'breakthrough of the year' has revealed itself at Elland Road in Spanish striker Mateo Joseph.

Fans of the West Yorkshire club will have to do their best to forget about Gray's magnificent performances in the famous white shirt, though a recent interview from the England under-21 international revealed that, had he stuck around for one more year, Gray and Joseph could have been an ideal duo both on and off the pitch.

Mateo Joseph is making a name for himself

Only halfway through October, the Spaniard has already quadrupled his career league minutes this season. While the goals aren't coming just yet, eight starts from nine this campaign exemplify his value to Daniel Farke's promotion-hunting side.

The Santander-born forward, who until last year represented England, was exceedingly patient in earning his wings at Elland Road. 2023/24 saw the former Espanyol man come off the bench 22 times in the Championship, for an average of eleven minutes a game.

Joseph's first two starts in professional football would be awarded in the FA Cup, the latter of which was an eye-catching performance against Chelsea, where he grabbed two goals in a 3-2 loss last February.

His goalscoring record for Leeds is admittedly poor, though his international endeavors are catching plenty of people's attention in his homeland. A hat-trick for Spain U21 against Kazakhstan this week made it five goals in five games for La Rojita.

Archie Gray speaks highly of Mateo Joseph

While the pair only managed 300 minutes of professional football together, they had an extended and wildly successful period playing together for the U21s.

The pair shared over one thousand minutes together as in 2022-23, they secured play-off promotion to the summit of Premier League 2 (proving to be the final team to be promoted in that format). Joseph in particular stood out, scoring 16 times over the year.

Reminiscing on his time in Leeds' youth ranks in an interview with the Yorkshire Evening Post, Gray spoke of his ongoing friendship with Joseph and the striker's recent impressive progression.

"Mateo is doing brilliant. He scored a hat-trick, I think it was last night,

"He's doing well for Leeds, we came through the ranks together since Under-18s. And you know, I'm still really close with him, really good friends, and I'm always looking out for him, how he's doing.

"It'd be amazing to play against him, and I'd really enjoy it"

While it isn't surprising to hear given their parallel progression, the retrospective news of their glowing friendship will be bittersweet for Leeds United supporters, as they never truly got to see the talented duo thriving in tandem.

Should Leeds draw Tottenham in the cup this campaign, Gray and Joseph may well be the most excited of anyone. For now, though, they must continue admiring each other from afar.