Tottenham set to beat Arsenal and Chelsea to £25,000,000 signing of Archie Gray
Tottenham are closing in on the signing of Leeds midfielder Archie Gray with centre-back Joe Rodon set to go in the other direction. Leeds rejected a bid from Brentford in the region of £35million for Gray on Sunday, but have been braced for the 18-year-old to depart this summer after they failed to secure an immediate return to the Premier League in May.
Spurs have now jumped to the front of the queue. ahead of the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea, with personal terms agreed with Gray and talks with Leeds at an advanced stage.
While negotiations continue over the final details of the move, it will be a player-plus-cash transfer with Rodon set to head back to Elland Road on a permanent deal after he spent the 2023-24 campaign on loan at Leeds.
Failure to go straight back up from the Sky Bet Championship put Leeds under pressure to make at least one lucrative sale in order to comply within financial fair play rules. Gray flourished under Leeds boss Daniel Farke last season and made 52 appearances across midfield and right-back to become one of the club’s most valuable assets.
Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville and Italy forward Wilfried Gnonto are among the club’s other bankable assets, but Gray looks set to be the first to exit with Tottenham confident of securing his services after a dramatic 24 hours.
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou gave the green light to move for the highly-rated Gray, who will get the chance to play Europa League football with the north London club.
