Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi is doing his best to bring in some big names to the midfield this summer transfer window and overhaul a unit that had been badly overrun in the last few Premier League seasons. Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali are two blockbuster, 80 million pound transfers De Zerbi is planning, and, at this point, Spurs are dangerously close to signing both of these new pillars.
But one future pillar of the midfield is then put in an precarious position. Before De Zerbi's arrival, Archie Gray was the one saving grace for the Tottenham midfield, and no matter how terribly Spurs were playing, the 20 year old managed to be a bright spot and looked like a young leader.
In order to survive the Premier League, De Zerbi sacrificed Gray to lean on the veterans like Rodrigo Bentancur in midfield, but he still made it a point to say that Gray would be important to his future plans at Tottenham. And Spurs supporters can only hope this is the case.
Archie Gray looks like a captain one day
Former Tottenham winger Darren Anderton, one of the club's best players of the 90s and a player with a laundry list of wonderful goals and assists, is also optimistic that Archie Gray will remain important to Tottenham Hotspur. Like so many fans have been whispering about, Anderton even still sees Gray as a future Tottenham captain.
Anderton said of Gray, via Chris Cowlin, “When De Zerbi came in, Archie - who's by far and away been the best player for us this season - got cast aside a little bit. So that's a bit worrying for me, because I want him in the team. I trust him, I back him, and I think that with the new circumstances next season he's got to be involved in it - and I think he will be. I could 100 per cent see him being a captain going forward.”
It doesn't get said a lot, but what Darren Anderton is saying about Gray's performance last season is totally true. Gray was the team's best player in the 2025/26 Premire League campaign before Roberto De Zerbi cast him aside on the bench, and the fans even voted him as their player of the season for Tottenham.
But Anderton isn't worried about Gray losing his place in the long term, and Tottenham fans will be curious to see how much of a role Gray plays for De Zerbi even after the Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes signings. Because this is one future star Spurs do not want to mess up.
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