Earlier this week, Claudio Ranieri kick-started Leicester’s winter spending by acquiring England Under-20 international Demarai Gray from Birmingham City on a four-and-a-half-year contract. The 19-year-old winger – who arrives at the King Power for a fee believed to be in the region of £3.7m – revealed he is keen to work with the Foxes manager before going on to discuss his versatile style of play:
“He (Claudio Ranieri) told me what he thinks of me personally, which is nice to hear and about future plans too, because clearly it’s early stages of my career and I want to develop and reach the top. Working with Ranieri will help me develop and being in the Premier League now is just the step I’ve been waiting for. You can see how well the team has been doing this year and I watch a lot of football so I can see that the way Leicester City play suits my style. I can play left or right and sometimes partner the striker if needs be. I like to come in off the left – that’s where I played mainly for Birmingham – and on the right I like to come inside off the flank too. The type of player I am is that I like to link play, have shots on goal and mainly just help the team, which is my job.”
The History
Born and bred in Birmingham, Gray joined the club’s youth academy as an under 11 and, after rising through the ranks, was finally handed a first-team debut by then-manager Lee Clarke in October 2013. The young winger went on to make seven Championship appearances (one start, six as a substitute) that term, finding the net on one occasion, and was named the club’s Academy Player of the Season for 2013/14.
Clarke’s departure early into the following campaign helped Gray’s evolution. Mainly utilised on the left of a 4-2-3-1 under the guidance of Gary Rowett, the wide man produced six goals and one assist over 41 league appearances, with 13 of those arriving off the bench, and won the club’s Young Player of the Season award.
Gray has nailed down a regular role at St Andrew’s this time around, with 22 of his 24 league outings arriving in the starting XI. The youngster has struggled to produce an end product, though, and served up just a goal and assist thus far. Despite the lack of output, Gray’s underlying numbers are somewhat encouraging – he’s fired 66 attempts on goal and created 29 chances for the Blues, which placed him first and second respectively for Rowett’s side.
Whilst his average of 65.2 minutes per chance created is fairly slow, then, the winger has produced an attempt on goal every 28.7 minutes in the Championship this term – that’s bettered by only three Premier League midfielders with 1,000 minutes to their name.
On the international front, Gray was handed his debut at youth level in February 2014. The winger has since turned out on 12 occasions for the England U18, 19 and 20 sides and found the net three times.
The Prospects
Having been linked with Gray back in the summer, Ranieri will be delighted to finally land the highly-rated wide man. Predominantly right-footed, the teenager’s technique, turn of pace and work-rate were rumoured to have Bayern Munich and Arsenal sniffing around at one point.
As the Leicester manager showed with the likes of Christian Fuchs earlier this season, he has a tendency to gradually ease players into his first-team plans. Despite arriving at the King Power as the captain of Austria’s national side, it took Fuchs until Gameweek 8 to earn his first start before finally nailing down a regular role at left-back.
Ranieri has mainly kept faith in Marc Albrighton and Riyad Mahrez out wide, with the latter occasionally shifted into a central support role. The fact that Albrighton is joint-top for crosses amongst midfielders this season, and Mahrez is top for attempts on target, underlines how tough a task the new boy faces to initially make a breakthrough.
Furthermore, bearing in mind his side sit second in the league, the Italian will surely lean on his more experienced regulars as he attempts to seal a top-four finish. For the remainder of 2015/16, then, it’s difficult to see Gray as anything more than an impact player off the bench.
Certainly, his lack of end product indicates he is very much a work in progress and despite a 5.0 price tag in Fantasy Premier league (FPL), he’s unlikely to attract initial investment.
Ultimately, the next few months should afford Gray a settling-in period as he becomes accustomed to the demands of the top-flight. Whilst his starts will be understandably rationed, Gray’s speed and direct style of play could prove a handy weapon for Ranieri if he choose to utilise the new boy late on in matches to take advantage of tired opposition defences.
