Why Leeds United see Rotherham United as the perfect next step for Harry Gray

The 17-year-old striker made his Leeds United debut in the final Championship home game of last season, and although he has been in matchday squads since, he has not played a minute of first-team football since.

Gray's brother Archie – now at Tottenham Hotspur – became a Leeds regular when he was 17, but they were not a Premier League club then.

Farke sees stepping down to League One at a Yorkshire club as the natural next stage in Harry's career progression.

"It should happen step by step," he said of how to develop young players. "At youth level it's more or less like you've outgrown your age group and you're too good for your age group.

"If you're too good for the under-16 then you are moved to the under-18 and if you outgrow them, then you are moved to the under-21 and if you are then there with impressive performances in training and games and you train regularly with the first team, if after a few months of first-team training you make it straight away into the starting line-up or having many minutes at first-team level, then it's a perfect way.

"We had this more or less with Harry's brother, Archie. Then you don't have to think about a loan.

"But if a player is regularly training with the first team for a few months and still plays at youth level but will struggle to get more minutes in first-team football, then it makes sense to think about a loan because where you really develop is always when you play senior football.

"With all respect, it's a different animal, senior football, in comparison to youth level.

"You work more or less with guys who are grown up, who are fathers, and where you have to show maturity.

"It's so good for the personality and especially for a young striker with so much potential like Harry. He has scored goals for fun at youth level.

"It's a chance to show he is physically ready. Once you have then shown you are ready for this level, then you can speak about perhaps Championship. When you have delivered on this level, then you speak about Premier League.

"This is more or less a normal pathway and there is no way for shortcuts. You have to earn this step by step. "

And Farke believes the New York Stadium, where the Millers are fighting against relegation into League Two, is an ideal place for him to do it.

"At his age, it makes sense that it's not abroad or far down in the south," he says. "He still has a bit this surrounding of his family and his mother club.

"But on the other hand, he has to mature in a bit tough environment where he has to grow up and also (compete) physically.

"If he is ready for this challenge, then the next steps can follow.

"But for me, it's a perfect chance for him to mature and to get physically ready as a striker.

"We got the feeling it's a perfect scenario for him."