Archie Gray, a midfielder for Leeds United, shared his thoughts on playing against Chelsea’s $300 million midfield during last month’s FA Cup match.
Archie Gray’s rise to prominence this season has generated discussion not only at Elland Road but also throughout the nation as he broke into the England U21s and appeared to have it easy there as well.
His media attention has been drawn to his performances, particularly the FA Cup match where he more than competed against Chelsea’s opulent team earlier in 2024.
Archie Gray shares what it was like playing Chelsea’s £300m midfield
Joe Wilkinson, co-host of Patrick Bamford’s podcast My Mate’s A Footballer, went to Thorp Arch to take free kicks at the training site. While there, he also had a conversation with Archie Gray, following several encouraging remarks made about the adolescent in earlier episodes.
Upon sitting together with Gray, comedian Wilkinson inquired about Gray’s experience facing Chelsea, his very first Premier League opponent.
Gray said this:
“The first 20 minutes I was just, like I said, going back from right-back, I was just a bit like ‘whoa’.”
Wilkinson then asked who Gray was facing in midfield:
“Enzo Fernandez, and (Moises) Caicedo, they had a midfield worth of like £300million with (Mykhailo) Mudryk as well, but in the first 20 minutes I didn’t know what I was doing because I was thinking like a right-back and then after that I was alright.”
The Bamford interjected to praise Gray for the rest of this performance, saying what followed after that 20 minutes:
“You started taking the p***, basically.”
Gray was incredible that night against Chelsea
No matter who our opponents are, it is not helping our prospects to hold onto Gray when he is playing this well.
We played pretty well, considering Chelsea had a very powerful team against us. We matched them for almost the whole game while making adjustments.
For the most part, Gray controlled the midfield, and he was only undone once by Fernandez’s deft turn and pass that opened up the defense for the winning goal.
