The crown jewel of Leeds United's academy has gone on loan to a club hoping to put a 'stinking omnishambles' firmly behind them.

Harry Gray is the greatest homegrown Elland Road hope since brother Archie Gray. He's still only 17 and eight months, but the family name, the striker's prolific goalscoring record at youth level and his precocious involvement with Daniel Farke's first team have built a certain level of expectation. Gray was seen backheeling in goals in senior training sessions in Germany at 15. Last season in a very poor Rotherham United team, amid a near hopeless relegation battle, he managed three goals from 20 appearances and impressed. What's more, he carries himself like a player who knows he's got something.

This season's loan move was, in some minds, going to take him to the next step. The assumption for many was that he'd done League One and the Championship would be next. But given Harry Kane played League One football at 17 and didn't make the step up to the second tier until he was 18 and a half, there should be no rush for Gray. What's good for England's greatest ever goalden goose is good for the gander. Besides, his previous experience of League One was at the bottom end. This season should be quite different.

Sheffield Wednesday are a club that want to be on the up again, after a slow, painful slide out of the Championship. The financial issues that resulted in administration are in the rear-view mirror thanks to a takeover by a new ownership and a desire to totally overhaul the squad. Even in the midst of what was at times a bewildering regime under Dejphon Chansiri, the Owls managed to make the most of loan signings with Leeds transfer target Shea Charles a leading light in that regard.

"It's all a bit of a work in progress at Sheffield Wednesday at the minute, with Harry Gray the fifth confirmed new addition of 20-odd," said Alex Miller, Sheffield Wednesday writer for the Sheffield Star. "But the signs are positive and optimism is bubbling that the Owls can have a positive season after the stinking omnishambles that was the last 18 months or so.

"There's been a lot of talk about Wednesday's new dawn doing things the right way and that appears to be bearing out with savvy, impressive people taking up important decision-making roles that Dejphon Chansiri deemed entirely unnecessary. The club has had a pretty decent record with loanees in recent campaigns despite that lack of structure - Shea Charles probably being the finest example - and the hope is that Hillsborough can become a sensible gap year home for the Premier League's brightest lights."

Miller is not yet heralding the start of a League One title-winning campaign but even if the season is solid rather than spectacular, he sees opportunities for Gray.

"Where Wednesday will be operating in League One is completely unknown," he said. "With so many new faces required and little time to bed them in, shouts of HMS voyages might prove a little premature just yet. But Gray should have the opportunity to play plenty of football at a big club with big crowds and big expectations - and will no doubt learn from proper pros such as Liam Cooper, Liam Palmer and the returning Barry Bannan. Owls academy graduate Will Grainger is also highly rated at 17 and it'll be interesting to see if the two of them are able to hit it off.

"The Owls were stripped of any attacking joie de vivre last season and Gray and others will be tasked with getting things going in front of goal again. It feels like an obvious next step after his growth with Rotherham United last season and given his confidence, the hope will be that he can deal with the pressure that playing for Wednesday in League One can deliver. It might be fun."

Cooper's presence is a happy coincidence. The centre-back was still at Leeds when Archie Gray was making his first team breakthrough and Harry was a much-talked-about youth talent. His role in the Wednesday dressing room, whether recognised with an armband or not, will be similar to how it was at Elland Road and Thorp Arch. The story goes that a young player on the verge of the first team once showed up to the training ground in a brand new BMW. parked it right next to the pitch where the Under-18s were playing and leaned against it to watch. Then his phone went as Cooper, looking on from inside the building, explained that such ostentatious shows were not the done thing. There's no suggestion that Gray is too big for his boots and his family will do a grand job of keeping him grounded, but if anyone can keep youngsters on the right side of the line when it comes to their development it's the former Leeds skipper.

So the conditions appear to be in place for Gray to have a good go at League One this season. As he himself pointed out, 24,000 season ticket holders will produce an atmosphere and a following that can only excite. This is his next step en route to making his Leeds United Premier League dream come true and all that remains is for him to show he can take it.