Archie Gray remains one of the most promising players in the world right now. The Tottenham midfielder, if you can even pin him down to one position, has achieved plenty in his career so far, going from a Championship playoff hero with Leeds United to a European regular with Tottenham.
Just last night, Gray was given the vote of confidence by Thomas Frank to play against the reigning champions, Paris Saint-Germain, in the Champions League. Ultimately, Tottenham lost the match, but it was a much-needed improvement in their performance from the weekend.
Tottenham learned a lot in their performance, the most notable of them being that Randal Kolo Muani could be a real game-changer if he's used right.
Speaking of lessons learned, and a player being used right, Archie Gray made quite a telling claim after the full-time whistle.
Archie Gray is starting to see his versatility as a setback
Archie Gray admitted that he saw being used in multiple different positions last season as a setback. He was grateful for the opportunities, but he is also grateful to the coaching staff for coming up with his individual coaching plan.
In his own words, Gray said: "The coaching staff have been absolutely brilliant with everyone, especially improving our individual games and stuff like that,"
"Last season was a tough season, obviously it ended really well but a lot of tough moments in the season, especially for me playing centre-back and all these different positions, which I'm grateful for but there were loads of setbacks."
"It is just things to learn from and the coaching staff this year have been really helpful with individual plans and stuff like that."
From the outside looking in, it's quite easy to conclude that a player not being tied down to one position cannot be good for their morale or development. It is much better to be the master of one trade than the jack of all trades, after all.
This season has not been much different, but it seems that Thomas Frank at least prefers to play Archie Gray in the midfield. It's fair to say that this position benefits him and the team much more than playing on defense.
And look, Tottenham has been forced into playing Gray in the defense this season. Injuries certainly haven't helped their case, and Gray has been more than happy to step up and play in this position when needed.
But going forward, Tottenham mustn't exploit his versatility. It helps, at times, but it would help more for Tottenham to encourage his development in one position only.