Daniel Farke has called up one of Leeds United’s academy starlets to senior training again this week, with Tottenham Hotspur set to play at Elland Road.
The Leeds United academy has produced a number of talents, including the duo of Harry Gray and Archie Gray on opposing sides for Saturday’s fixture at Elland Road.
The priority for the club this season is to survive, but they will also want to see progress in other areas and Leeds have made steps to improve the academy this season as well.
It’s more difficult for players to break into the senior team when Leeds are a Premier League club and not an EFL side, but players like Rhys Chadwick could save Leeds millions if he achieves his potential.
Rhys Chadwick joins senior training for Leeds ahead of Spurs
Chadwick has been compared to Archie Gray as a midfield player, with the 18-year-old among the brightest of the bunch alongside Harry Gray and Sam Chambers.
Daniel Farke selected Chadwick as one of five Leeds youngsters on the pre-season tour of Germany this summer. However, Chadwick has been integral at Leeds U-21 level for some time now.
He can be seen numerous times throughout the recent training video, but the first sighting in the footage comes around 0:07 into the latest video posted by Leeds on YouTube.
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This isn’t the first time he has been spotted, with Farke having called up Chadwick to senior training ahead of Fulham and the trip down to Craven Cottage a few weeks ago.
Chadwick is predominantly a central or defensive midfielder, although he can also operate as a centre-back as well. That said, his inclusion is interesting when considering Leeds have five senior midfielders and they are all fit.
Leeds’ injury issues ahead of Tottenham include wingers Dan James and Willy Gnonto, as well as Lucas Perri in goal. The only other concern is regarding Archie’s brother, Harry.
Sean Longstaff and Joao Palhinha reveal ahead of Leeds vs Tottenham
Days ago, it was revealed Leeds’ Sean Longstaff and Tottenham’s Joao Palhinha were dominating one metric in particular in Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues for September.
However, to go one further, that they are both shining. Since making his first Premier League start for Leeds on 30 August, no player has made more tackles in the Premier League than Longstaff.
That number is 19, which is level with Spurs’ Portuguese midfielder Palhinha, while only three players have created more chances than he has in that time as well, with Longstaff creating eight.
It highlights that Chadwick will have a tough time displacing the 27-year-old and his midfield counterparts anytime soon, but he simply has to continue training and impressing Farke in the meantime.