Ex-Leeds United player Harry Kewell has weighed in on an international feud and insisted he had never heard of a fellow former Elland Road forward.

Mike Grella played 42 times for the Whites after a successful January 2009 trial and was part of the squad that won promotion from League One back to the Championship. The American fell down the pecking order and was sent out on loan before departing permanently in 2011 to join Brentford. He went on to play for Bury, Scunthorpe, Danish side Viborg and then moved back to his home country to play in the MLS.

Since his playing days ended Grella has become a TV analyst and pundit and an appearance on CBS Sports Golazo ignited an international war of words with the Australian media. Grella described the Socceroos as a 'layup' for the US Men's National team, when the pair were drawn to face each other in the 2026 World Cup. That group stage game will take place on Friday night in Seattle and despite the best efforts of another ex-Leeds man Tyler Adams to defuse the situation by saying: "No, it’s not a layup, if anything, it’s going to be one of the most difficult games that we play," Grella has doubled down.

He appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and responded to Australian media criticism of his comment. "I was going to come on here and say some nice stuff about them, but now the fan base has gone a little too far. They’ve never won anything."

Now a third former Leeds man has weighed in. Harry Kewell, who played 58 times for Australia and made 240 Leeds appearances as part of a side that played Champions League football, has insisted he had never previously heard of Grella.

"Nope, nope, no idea," he said. "The USA are talking about they're some unbelievable soccer nation, right? I would love to play their golden generation against our golden generation. I mean, it wouldn't even be a contest, so I don't know what they're harping on about. Really seriously, I don't."

Kewell, who is still the subject of a huge backlash from Leeds supporters for signing for Galatasaray despite being a Whites player when Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight were murdered before a UEFA Cup game against the Turkish side in Istanbul, says the best ever American team would be no match for the Aussie golden generation.

"I don't even know if they played football, soccer back then," he said. "I mean, I think they're a new nation to it. I get it that they've got the MLS. I understand that, but if you want to compete at the highest level, you've got to be playing at the highest level in football, and that's in Europe. So for me, back in that day, there would only be one one team winning that game."

Current Leeds star Brenden Aaronson will be hoping to get his first taste of World Cup 2026 action in Friday’s game, having been an unused substitute in their group opener against Paraguay. His wish is to encounter Argentina and his ‘favourite player of all-time’ Lionel Messi en route to the final.