Archie Gray, who only turned 18 last month, has been the breakout star of Leeds United's season under German head coach Daniel Farke.
The former Norwich boss has placed his faith in the academy graduate, who had not made a first-team appearance prior to this season, and has handed him 38 games in the Championship so far.
Largely playing out of his natural position – central midfield – at right-back, Gray has been a regular starter, with 35 starts in the division, and appears to have a bright future ahead of him at Elland Road.
However, not every talented young player gets the opportunity to make the breakthrough, and one former Leeds starlet who did not make a first-team appearance was Luke Garbutt, who the club played a blinder with in hindsight, as he flopped after moving on from the Whites.
How much Everton paid for Luke Garbutt
The Yorkshire-born left-back came up through the youth ranks at Thorp Arch and made it up to U18 level before his move to Everton in the summer of 2009.
It was reported by The Telegraph at the time that the Premier League side had to pay an initial fee of £600k in a deal that could have risen to £1.5m with add-ons, which was determined by a tribunal as compensation for Leeds' development of Garbutt up to that point.
Then 16, the young defender had already been capped five times by England at U16 level and racked up 24 appearances for the U17s by 2010.
Luke Garbutt
He was, therefore, a promising talent who had shown enough potential to both represent his country at youth level on a number of occasions and be snapped up by a Premier League team, which was too much of a temptation for Garbutt for Leeds to convince him to stay.
Where Luke Garbutt now plays
Now 30, the experienced full-back currently plays in League Two, the fourth division of English football, for Salford, who he joined from League One Blackpool on a free transfer last summer.
It turned out that Leeds played a blinder by earning a minimum of £600k, rising to £1.5m, in compensation for the left-back in 2009 as his career did not kick on in the right direction after the move to the Premier League at Goodison Park.
In 11 years on Merseyside, Garbutt played 12 first-team matches in all competitions for Everton – including five in the Premier League – before being released on a free transfer in 2020.
The former England U21 international had spells out on loan with Colchester United, Fulham, Ipswich Town, and Wigan, among others, but never played at a higher level than the Championship during those moves.
Appearances
29
Goals
2
Assists
5
Duel success rate
48%
Yellow cards
12
As you can see in the table above, Garbutt has featured regularly for Salford in League Two and has provided attacking quality from left-back, whilst being suspect defensively with more than half of his duels being lost and a staggering 12 yellow cards to his name.
Overall, Leeds inadvertently played a blinder with the defender's exit as they raked in the cash before it was too late and Everton rarely used him before allowing the flop to leave for nothing in 2020.
