Liverpool to move for outstanding Leeds prospect on one condition

Liverpool are expected to move for Leeds United’s teenage sensation Archie Gray should the Whites fail to gain promotion to the Premier League, according to a report in Football Insider.

Gray, 17, has been a standout of Leeds’ Championship campaign thus far, making 30 starts in the league and 34 across all competitions.

His versatility has benefitted the Elland Road side, who have used Gray in central midfield, attacking midfield and even right back at times this term.

Long seen as a prodigious talent, Gray was named on the bench for a Premier League game when he was only 15 by former manager Marcelo Bielsa.

Leeds braced for multiple bids

Daniel Farke has had no qualms in using the youngster in the Championship either, starting him in the first game of the season and he has rarely been out of the lineup since then.

Leeds moved to safeguard the player’s future back in January, committing him to a new deal which will extend to 2028, in an attempt to put off potential Premier League suitors.

Liverpool, Everton and Crystal Palace were all linked with a move for Gray ahead of the winter window but no deal materialised.

Farke has since led his side to the automatic promotion places thanks to an extraordinary run of form, with seven Championship wins registered in a row.

They remain ahead of Southampton, who are third but have a game in hand, and haven’t dropped points since losing to West Brom in December.

The race for automatic promotion will go right to the wire and now Football Insider reports that Leeds are braced for multiple summer bids for their talent in the event that they don't go up, including one from the Reds.

Leeds will be heavily resistant to losing their outstanding homegrown prospect, whose father, grandfather and great uncle all played for the West Yorkshire team.

Liverpool retain a strong interest in youthful players at clubs lower down the food chain with the likes of Ben Doak, Bobby Clark, Kaide Gordon, James McConnell and Trey Nyoni all being recruited in their late teens from clubs around the UK.

According to Anfield Watch, the Reds are also looking at Oliver Arblaster, who has finished a loan spell at Port Vale in order to return to parent club Sheffield United, where he has only six months left on his contract.