{"id":574404,"date":"2025-11-16T15:57:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/574404\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T15:57:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T15:57:19","slug":"alan-smith-showed-daniel-farke-exactly-why-he-must-trust-harry-gray-to-make-leeds-united-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/574404\/","title":{"rendered":"Alan Smith showed Daniel Farke exactly why he must trust Harry Gray to make Leeds United debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

27 years after Alan Smith made his eye-catching debut for Leeds United at Anfield, Daniel Farke is mulling over when to unleash his own teenage prodigy, Harry Gray. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel Farke<\/a> has plenty to mull over during the current international break, as he looks to turn around Leeds\u2019 worrying run of Premier League<\/a> form. <\/p>\n

Despite Wayne Rooney calling for him<\/a> to be added to the England squad, Leeds have looked short on goals, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin<\/a> leading the line.<\/p>\n

While the first team have struggled for goals, the prodigiously talented Harry Gray<\/a> has been scoring goals for fun for Leeds\u2019 Academy, including two goals in his last outing against Accrington Stanley<\/a>. <\/p>\n

With attention now beginning to turn towards Leeds\u2019 crucial clash with Aston Villa, Farke should use Smith\u2019s debut in 1998<\/a> as inspiration when considering whether to finally unleash Gray in the Premier League. <\/p>\n

\"HarryPhoto by Robbie Jay Barratt \u2013 AMA\/Getty ImagesDaniel Farke should learn from Alan Smith\u2019s Leeds United debut<\/p>\n

Leeds would eventually go on to finish fourth in the 1998\/99 Premier League season, but suffered a frustrating start to the season, drawing eight of their first 12 games. <\/p>\n

George Graham had departed<\/a> the club to join Tottenham and was replaced by young coach David O\u2019Leary<\/a>, who began to place his trust in the next generation of talent at Leeds.<\/p>\n

Leeds travelled to Anfield on 14th November 1998 and O\u2019Leary received the most emphatic vindication of his trust in the youth team as his side secured a 3-1 victory. <\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

Alan Smith made his Leeds debut<\/a> in the game just over a month after his 18th birthday, and made his mark just three minutes after being brought on by slotting home his first goal for the club. <\/p>\n

He would go on to make a total of 21 top-flight appearances that season, scoring seven goals and helping Leeds establish themselves as a force in European football. <\/p>\n

Leeds need a spark to ignite their Premier League survival bid. Although Gray is one year younger at 17, a point may come when his weight of goals for the Leeds Academy<\/a> side leaves Farke with no choice. If that moment comes, Smith shows that it is possible to make the jump at such a young age. <\/p>\n

\"Alan5 Feb 2000: Alan Smith of Leeds in action during the FA Carling Premiership match against Leeds played at Anfield in Liverpool, England. Liverpool won the game 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Clive Brunskill \/AllsportHarry Gray\u2019s performances against senior teams are encouraging for Leeds United<\/p>\n

Although Gray has been scoring for fun in the youth team, there are countless examples of players who have been prolific at the junior level but have been unable to make the step up to the Premier League. <\/p>\n

However, Farke can take heart from Gray\u2019s performances against senior teams in both the National League Cup and the EFL Trophy. <\/p>\n\nCompetition<\/td>\nGames<\/td>\nGoals<\/td>\nAssists<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPremier League 2<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nEFL Trophy<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nNational League Cup<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nPremier League International Cup<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Harry Gray in the 25\/26 season \u2013 Data from FotMob<\/a><\/p>\n

Gray\u2019s two goals against Accrington in the EFL Trophy showed he can perform against a team featuring several lower league professionals, as did his hat-trick against Scunthorpe<\/a> in the National League Cup.<\/p>\n

Of course, it is too early to get carried away by Gray\u2019s success. However, the fact that he has regularly found the net against senior teams shows that he will not be daunted by the physicality in top-level football. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"27 years after Alan Smith made his eye-catching debut for Leeds United at Anfield, Daniel Farke is mulling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574405,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[182125,748,1385,393,4884,30594,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-574404","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-alan-smith","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-daniel-farke","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-harry-gray","14":"tag-leeds","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115560202534194765","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}