Eyebrows were raised when Tottenham Hotspur forked out £40m to land teenager Archie Gray from the English second tier following his antics for Leeds United as Daniel Levy acted swiftly to land his signatures from under Brentford’s noses in the eleventh hour.
And while he has not enjoyed consistent minutes under his belt at White Hart Lane, the 18-year-old has been impressing the coaches at Hotspur Way behind the scenes as Leeds ace Patrick Bamford reveals how Archie had been surprising people at N17 and how he also broke a record in his early days in North London.
Bamford praises Gray’s exceptional fitness levels at Spurs
Only months into his spell with his new employers, Archie Gary has kept the supporters on the edge of their seats when he takes the field and has shown flashes of the immense potential that convinced Tottenham to invest heavily in him. Now, Bamford has revealed that Gray is very impressive with his fitness.
The former Chelsea forward goes on to reveal that the teenager is class apart when it comes to endurance and fitness, as the 31-year-old revealed that Gray set a new record for the VO2 max test at Hotspur Way when the teenager initially moved to the N17 last synonym.
Bamford, speaking on My Mate’s A Footballer podcast, said:
“The epitome of a fit midfielder is Archie Gray. That guy is a freak. An absolute machine. When he went to Tottenham, I texted him and asked him how it was going. And he said that the one thing they might struggle with is kind of coping with the demands in training and fitness levels.
“And then he did the VO2 max test. You basically put some kind of mask on that measure, and you run on a treadmill until a threshold, until you can’t keep that pace any longer.
“And whatever the record was beforehand, he absolutely smashed out of the park. And afterwards, they were just like, Yeah, I don’t think fitness is going to be an issue.”
Ange Postecoglou likes his players to be on the front foot and always running, be it pressing or recovering, and he would love to have an engine of Archie Gray in his squad.
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What are your early takes on Archie Gray given how limited you have seen of him in Tottenham colours? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
