NEWS NOW: Crystal Palace move to finallize swoop deal with lead unted…..

And unsurprisingly considering how comfortable he has looked in the second tier of English football, there is already interest in Gray from the Premier League.

According to Alan Nixon via Patreon, Crystal Palace have been watching Gray for a while at youth level and for England, but his emergence into the United first-team has only strengthened the Eagles’ desire to land the 17-year-old.

Nixon claims that Leeds may have to cash in if they do not win promotion at the end of the 2023-24 season, meaning that it looks likely to be a potential signing for the 2024-25 campaign and not the upcoming January transfer window.

Quite a few of Palace’s midfield options for the deeper roles are getting towards their late 20’s now, with Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma both in that age bracket and Jeffrey Schlupp also 30 years of age too.

There are younger alternatives such as Cheick Doucoure and Naouirou Ahamada, but their scouting of Adam Wharton for a number of months suggests that another young player for their engine room is a priority in the next 12 months.

Whilst Wharton has impressed for Blackburn, Gray is considerably younger and has jumped into a Leeds midfield with a lot of expectation and looked rather comfortable so far, albeit he was rested by Daniel Farke this past weekend against Watford.

But even though it is ambitious of Palace to target Gray because of his exceptionally high potential, it seems rather unlikely that they’ll win his signature unless Leeds happen to stay in the Championship next season – and even that may not be enough.

There is a long lineage of Gray’s to play for the club and the midfielder is likely going to want to prove himself, and regular football at Championship level could propel him to superstardom in a few years time.