Gray playing for England U21 in 2017
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Personal information | |||
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Full name | Demarai Remelle Gray | ||
Date of birth | 28 June 1996 | ||
Place of birth | Birmingham, England | ||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
Playing position | Winger | ||
Club information | |||
Current team
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Leicester City | ||
Number | 22 | ||
Youth career | |||
– | Cadbury Athletic | ||
2006–2013 | Birmingham City | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2013–2016 | Birmingham City | 72 | (8) |
2016– | Leicester City | 34 | (1) |
National team‡ | |||
2014 | England U18 | 3 | (0) |
2014–2015 | England U19 | 4 | (1) |
2015– | England U20 | 5 | (2) |
2016– | England U21 | 5 | (2) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 04:49, 2 April 2017 (UTC). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14:45, 1 March 2017 (UTC) |
Demarai Remelle Gray (born 28 June 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Leicester City.
Gray came through the youth system of Birmingham City, for whom he made his Football League debut as a 17-year-old in October 2013. In two-and-a-half seasons, he made 78 appearances across all competitions, including 51 starts in the Championship, and scored 8 goals. Gray signed for Leicester City in January 2016, and was a member of their 2015–16 Premier League-winning squad.
He has represented England from under-18 to under-21 level.
Gray was born in Birmingham, where he attended Frankley High School and played for Cadbury Athletic's junior teams. He joined Birmingham City's Academy as an under-11, and took up a two-year scholarship in July 2012. In a 2013 interview, Gray assessed his strengths as "pace, dribbling and technique", felt he needed to "score more goals", described himself in three words as "bubbly, calm and happy", and named Nathan Redmond as the biggest influence on him since joining the club.
After impressing Birmingham manager Lee Clark in training, he was named in the squad for the Championship match against Millwall on 1 October 2013, and made his senior debut as a 91st-minute substitute for Jesse Lingard in a 4–0 win. He made his first start on 2 November, in a 1–0 league defeat at home to Charlton Athletic. Gray signed his first professional contract, of two-and-a-half years, on 9 December. Days after his inclusion together with academy teammate Reece Brown in a "Top 10 Football League stars of tomorrow" feature on the FourFourTwo website, Gray scored his first senior goal. Entering the League match at home to Blackburn Rovers on 19 April 2014 as a second-half substitute with Birmingham 4–1 down, he received a pass from Federico Macheda and shot low into the corner to score the final goal of the game. His performance over the season earned him the Academy Player of the Season award for 2013–14.