Tottenham Hotspur center midfielder Archie Gray has all the tools to become one of the best players in the world in his position, and while that may sound hyperbolic on paper, he truly does have a lot of raw talent and showed a level of bravery and quality last season when Spurs were literally the worst team in the Premier League that takes something special to do. And at that time, clubs as big as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich were watching him, readying for a swoop.
Gray only got to play regularly in his favorite position in the 2025/26 Premier League season after earning Thomas Frank's trust when he beat Rodrigo Bentancur out for the starting job in the first half of the season. And judging by how solid Bentancur has been over the past six months, that actually was not an easy feat by any means.
In his first season at Tottenham since making a big money switch from Leeds United as one of the most hyped center midfield prospects in English football, Gray actually barely played in his best position, and Tottenham fans still can't believe what Ange Postecoglou was thinking when he wasted an entire year of the top prospect's development by starting him as a center back.
Archie Gray at right back makes less than no sense
Well, Roberto De Zerbi is somehow finding a new low in terms of ways to utilize Archie Gray, because instead of signing a valid backup right back to replace Djed Spence, whom they sold to Serie A champions Inter Milan this summer after the England World Cup hero requested a transfer out, he is starting Gray pretty consistently at right back.
The results have been disastrous for Tottenham Hotspur so far but are even worse for Gray personally. Surely, the experiment will end soon with Pedro Porro returning to full fitness, but what was even more inexplicable is the fact that against Newcastle, De Zerbi started Gray at right back and Porro on the right wing with Destiny Udogie not even starting at all - even though Andy Robertson was at left back and the former Udinese man could have been the inverted right back.
What De Zerbi is doing to Gray is undermining the organization's future, and it legitimately makes no sense. It is not better for Tottenham to have Gray at right back, and it is certainly not better for him as a player. What RDZ is choosing to do is much worse than what Ange Postecoglou did, because at least Big Ange had plausible deniability, given all the injuries Spurs had at center back and the fact that this was a way to get Gray involved in the build up play and reading the game defensively at least. Right back? That is an even worse fit and a bigger problem for Spurs.
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