After a roller coaster of a season that saw Ange Postecoglou eventually secure Europa League Football for Tottenham Hotspur, it’s the recruitment team’s turn to step up and deliver in the coming months.

Daniel Levy and Co have to bring in the right players to help the Australian guide the Lilywhites back closer to the top of the Premier League while simultaneously helping him flush out those not good enough to do so.

Luckily for the former Celtic boss, that may well happen as the latest player touted for a move to N17 is an incredibly exciting youngster who could be the perfect upgrade to Pierre-Emile Højbjerg.

Tottenham Hotspur transfer news

According to a recent report from Football.london, Tottenham Hotspur have a ‘strong interest’ in Leeds United star Archie Gray.

The report has revealed that, alongside several other Premier League sides, the Lilywhites have monitored the 18-year-old’s progress for some time and view his positional flexibility as a massive plus.

The report does not mention a potential price, but considering his importance to the team and his £5k-per-week contract, which runs until June 2028, it could be a costly transfer to get over the line.

However, according to The Athletic, following their failure to win promotion back to the Premier League, the Peacocks now need to sell this summer, which could help Levy and Co swipe Gray for below his market value, which could be bad news for Højbjerg.

How Gray compares to Højbjerg

Now, if Gray does move to North London this summer, he’d most likely do so under the promise of game time in the centre of midfield, as while he played well at right-back last season, that was more through necessity than design.

For example, in his 89 appearances for the senior and junior sides since the start of the 2021/22 season, the Durham-born prospect has started 41 games in attacking, central, and defensive midfield and 30 on the right side of the defence.

Therefore, his arrival at Spurs would put him up against the Club‘s current crop of central midfielders, including Højbjerg, so how do the pair compare? Well, despite being a decade his junior, the Englishman stacks up very well, coming out ahead in more metrics than not.

For example, while he produced a lower non-penalty expected goal and assists figure, fewer clearances, progressive passes, ball recoveries, and shot-creating actions, he provided more actual assists, completed more progressive carries while receiving more progressive passes, made and won more tackles, made considerably fewer errors, produced more goal-creating actions, and completed more successful take-ones, all per 90.

What’s even more impressive is that most of his metrics came while he was playing fullback, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect his progressive passes to increase considerably when in a more central role.

Ultimately, given how impressive Gray looked last season and the fact that data analyst Ben Mattinson described him as a “future £100m cm,” Levy and Co must do what they can to bring him to North London this summer.

He may still be a little raw, but the talent is undeniable at this point, and as he has already surpassed Højbjerg in a number of key underlying metrics, he might be the long-term future of the Lilywhites’ midfield.

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