Tottenham summer signing wanted by former Leeds chief as cheeky January exit is mooted

Sevilla sporting director Victor Orta is reportedly considering an ambitious approach to sign Archie Gray from Tottenham in January – and reports in the Spanish media believe the deal is not quite as unlikely as it may initially seem.

The 18-year-old is considered one of the best young stars in English football, having made 52 appearances for Leeds United last season as they narrowly missed out on an instant return to the Premier League. That failure to secure promotion, though, was to ultimately cost the Whites dear, with Gray the first of three big-name sacrifices the club were forced into making to balance the books.

Leeds’ loss proved Tottenham‘s gain and Ange Postecoglou’s side pounced to bring the England Under-21s star to north London in a £40m deal, beating fellow suitors Brentford to his signature.

However, while Gray has made seven appearances so far for his new club, he has only racked up 304 minutes in that time, with just three of them coming as starts in the Europa League (two) and the Carabao Cup.

Now, Spanish outlet Mucho Deporte outrageously claims Sevilla’s sporting director Orta is ‘already asking about’ signing Gray in the January transfer window, albeit on a loan basis.

They explain that Sevilla are already positioning themselves as an option for a possible deal if Spurs decide they are open to the idea of sending the teenager out over the second half of the season to further his experience. Having already registered their interest with Tottenham over a possible deal, they have also made clear that they have a loan space ready to use on Gray.

Somewhat sycophantly, the article claims Orta was the man mainly responsible for Gray’s rise at Leeds, though quite how they come to that conclusion given the Spaniard worked as director of football at Elland Road and had no role to play in either his coaching or his first-team involvement, with his senior debut not coming until Orta’s exit at the West Yorkshire club.

READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou not expected to flinch in brutally benching elite Tottenham star

Spurs unlikely to be willing to loan out Archie Gray

So far for Spurs, Gray has shown his versatility by covering a variety of roles for Postecoglou. So far, Gray has appeared as both a right-back and a central midfielder for Tottenham, started at centre-half in the Europa League clash against Ferencvaros in Hungary and has also come on at left-back to cover for Destiny Udogie on a couple of occasions.

And given his tender years, it is easy to understand why the Aussie boss has taken a softly, softly approach to bedding the 18-year-old into their first-team plans this season.

However, his game-time will surely increase as the season unfolds and Spurs will also hope to still be alive in at least three competitions by the time the January window rolls around, meaning any sort of exit – even if only on loan – would be highly unlikely.

Furthermore, Sevilla do not have a great track record when it comes to the temporary capture of players from Spurs, with Argentine youngster Alejo Veliz being sparingly used and only appearing six times for the Andalusians after signing on loan in January.

Latest Tottenham transfer news – Ange eyes powerful striker / Serie A tipped

Meanwhile, Tottenham are being linked with a surprise move to sign Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap with the England Under-21 man showing a rich vein of form for the Premier League new boys so far this season.

TEAMtalk revealed earlier this month that Delap’s form has also alerted Chelsea to his future possible signing, but now a report has revealed Postecoglou is also an admirer and keeping tabs on the powerful striker’s progress with regards a future move.

Elsewhere, Spurs’ need for left-back cover has been highlighted by the fact Gray has covered there for Udogie on more than one occasion. According to recent reports in Italy, the Spurs boss is keen to bring in specialist cover and has set his sights on a move for Denmark starlet Patrick Dorgu, who is now ‘very likely’ to leave Italian club Lecce next summer.

Another Serie A star Spurs are tracking is Inter Milan defender Yann Bisseck.

The Italian press have claimed that Spurs could send Inter a player-plus-cash bid for the centre-half. Surprisingly, January arrival Radu Dragusin is named as the player who could be involved in that proposal.