Home comfort and £40m parallels as Leeds United man feeds back amid training camp secrecy — YEP 22/7/24

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United have tried to throw a tight net around their German training camp to keep its location and some of their tactical preparations under wrap, but reports are still leaking back to the UK from at least one source.

The bizarre decision taken by German police to keep Whites supporters away this summer has led to a somewhat clandestine approach from Leeds. They cannot stream their two friendly games live, the YEP's match coverage will sit under an embargo for a short time and care has been taken to get the angles of training footage right so as not to showcase exactly where they are based. Leeds fans, of course, have a dedication to detective work that would humble Frank Columbo, but the club's feeling is that they have to abide by the rules.

However not even German chancellor Olaf Scholz himself could dictate that Charlie Crew ceases communication as he sends scouting reports of his own back to Cardiff. Barely 18, Crew is one of the youngest members of Daniel Farke's travelling party. He began to catch the manager's eye last season and after recovering from an injury was slowly introduced to the first team environment, almost straddling the territory between Under 21s football and the real stuff. This summer, so far, he has both feet planted firmly on senior soil and he's enjoying himself.

"Really enjoyable," he told the YEP of his pre-season experience to date. "Settled in nicely with the group, got two games under my belt, two 45 minutes so I'm really enjoying it and the team's doing really well, two positive results. The staff have been excellent and I'm really enjoying myself."

There are footballers far more advanced in years and experience who speak with far less self assurance than Crew and out on the pitch during the six-a-side games on day one of the training camp he looks confident enough on the ball. But there were a few butterflies the first time he stepped in to join the 'big boys.'

"It was the second to last international break towards the end of last season, and I was coming back from injury and I found out just from the Under 21s coach, he just let me know and said that they want you in for a few sessions because a lot of people are on international duty," he said. "So fill in the numbers to start with. And then I felt like maybe I set a good example of myself and I got more opportunities after that. I think I was more nervous for the first training session, just settling in. But when you have people like Ethan [Ampadu], Joe [Rodon], who are Welsh as well, it helps you they help you settle in with the boys. And then when you go on the pitch, you just have to trust your ability. And I think that's what I did."

Last season much was made of the Welsh contingent at Leeds, mostly by the manager who routinely referenced how tough a player must be if he hailed from Cymru. Ampadu, Rodon, Daniel James and Connor Roberts made up the senior quartet of Welsh internationals at Thorp Arch, until they were joined by Crew. He made his international debut against Gibraltar, still aged 17. Roberts might have gone back to Burnley now at the end of his loan, but the continued presence of the other three is a big comfort to not only Crew but his family back in Cardiff, to whom the midfielder reports back regularly.

"I'm very close with my family," he told the YEP. "They're still down in Cardiff so I'm always on the phone to them, telling them how each training session goes, telling them how the games go. They watch all the games on LUTV. So yeah they do keep up with all my games and I call them a lot. One hundred percent [it means a lot to them that there is a group of senior Welsh lads at Leeds], I think more for my mum, she's happy that I've got people up here looking after me. My dad just says enjoy it."

That Welsh contingent made the transition to the national team squad a little more comfortable for such a young player and then, in turn, making a debut as a 78th minute substitute in the Gibraltar game has made it a little easier to settle back into life at Leeds, in Germany.

"It was an amazing achievement, for me and my family," he said. I think they were extremely proud of me, so to get that done and out of the way, it gives you a little bit more here when you come back to the club because you've played one game already. You've been around another first team, different environment so you can use that coming into this environment again as well. I think that's helped me."

An 18-year-old midfielder, fresh out of the Thorp Arch academy and already being talked about on the international scene. There's an obvious danger of drawing too-obvious parallels here given the £40m elephant that left the room this summer. Crew does not shy away from wanting to emulate what Archie Gray did and even if the Welshman's 2024/25 season does not look exactly like Gray's 2023/24 campaign, a path has been established and an example set.

"Looking up to Archie, seeing what he did last year, it always gives you a bit of hope and belief that if you do work hard enough, if you do put the hours in, if you do keep your head down, that will be possible," Crew said. "Obviously I'd like to hope that I get an opportunity, but again I can't do anything other than just work hard. Two games already, I felt I've done quite well, so I just need to carry on doing that and then see what the manager says. He speaks to me a bit more about certain things, because obviously I've still got a lot of learning to do but he treats me exactly the same as everyone else and that does make you feel better as well, you're not getting treated differently or anything. Obviously I'd love to play as many games as possible. But like I said earlier, as long as I just work hard, I think I'll get an opportunity and that's when I have to take it."