Danny Mills has warned Newcastle not to treat Archie Gray as an instant fix for Sandro Tonali's role. The former England defender said Gray has plenty of talent, but also “a lot of learning to do”, and Newcastle have already had a formal bid rejected by Tottenham.

Mills' warning on Gray

“If that’s a direct replacement, it's a bit of a gamble because he still has a lot of learning to do,” Mills told chroniclelive.co.uk. He was blunt about where Gray fits best too: “He’s played pretty much every position except midfield in the last few years, which has been a shame for him because midfield is his strongest position.”

That is the heart of the Newcastle question. Gray is 20, and the club would not just be buying promise, they would be asking him to step into a very specific midfield job straight away. Mills also pointed out that Tottenham paid about £40million for him, so any move would be judged against a serious fee rather than a low-risk punt.

Newcastle’s midfield rebuild

The wider picture is not subtle. Newcastle are still searching for a No 6 to replace Tonali and are also weighing up Bruno Guimaraes' future. They finished 12th in the Premier League, which is hardly a platform that screams calm, settled planning in the middle of the pitch.

Gray’s clean sweep of Tottenham's player of the season awards for 2025/26 shows why clubs are circling. It also explains why Newcastle are interested. But a bit of admiration is not the same as a finished solution, and Mills' point is hard to dismiss: Gray has mostly been used away from midfield, so a Tonali-style handover would ask a lot of him from day one.

The market context matters too. Newcastle reached an agreement with Johan Manzambi worth €60m (£51.2m) before Aston Villa hijacked the move, although another report suggested Villa beat them to it after the fact. Either way, Newcastle are still chasing answers in midfield and still not getting every target over the line.

Mills has left room for growth, saying Gray could run a midfield “in two or three seasons, possibly”. That feels like the right read. Newcastle can admire the player and still be careful about the timing, because their rejected bid shows they are already testing the waters rather than landing a ready-made replacement.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →