It is testament to Leeds United’s unwavering stance that transfer reports surrounding Crysencio Summerville have rarely developed beyond initial interest.
Summerville’s name has been as ever-present in gossip columns as it was on Daniel Farke’s teamsheet last season and the list of admirers seems to grow with each week. It has been Liverpool and Chelsea for a while now, but they have since been joined by Crystal Palace, Brighton, West Ham, Fulham, Roma, Stade Rennais and plenty more.
The terminology in reports has varied as prospective suitors ‘keep tabs’, ‘admire’, ‘monitor’ or add the Dutchman to their ‘shortlist’. But the story has been the same every time: clubs like Summerville but can’t – or won’t – meet his price-tag. West Ham are the only team thought to have made an offer but reports suggest they have now pulled out, with no intention of paying above £20m.
It remains to be seen what that price-tag is but, with reports naming anything between £30-40million, Leeds have set their stall out and are not ready to be haggled down. Having brought in a much-needed £40m cash injection via the sale of Archie Gray to Tottenham Hotspur, they are no longer actively looking to sell anyone.
Summerville was out with his teammates in Germany last week and looked sharp as ever. Leeds will hope to have him on board when Portsmouth come to Elland Road in less than two week’s time but a quirk of the summer transfer window means an exit cannot be ruled out until the August 30 deadline. And the difficulty in keeping someone like Summerville beyond that point is not lost on anyone.
20 goals and nine assists wasn’t quite enough to get Leeds promoted, but it was enough to see Summerville crowned the Championship’s Player of the Season. That label inevitably catches the eye of clubs in higher leagues, however, and the failure to go up tends to leave teams vulnerable.
Since the EFL end-of-season awards began in 2006, the vast majority of players to win Player of the Season have featured for promotion-winning teams. Only four have seen their efforts prove to be in vain.
Two of those four, Patrick Bamford and Matej Vydra, claimed the award while on loan at Middlesbrough and Watford respectively, with both earning temporary moves to Premier League clubs the following summer. The other two were West Brom’s Jason Koumas in 2007 and Boro’s Chuba Akpom in 2023.
In the summers after the latter pair received their crown as the Championship’s best player, both were sold to top-tier clubs for what reports have described as offers that couldn’t be turned down. Koumas joined Wigan Athletic for £5.3m while Ajax signed Akpom in a deal worth over £12m. Put simply, a Championship club has never been able to keep the league’s player of the season after failing to achieve promotion.
Leeds are currently on course to break that link and have no plans to sell Summerville, but the club haven’t been able to categorically rule out his exit and know interest will continue to intensify. Clubs could miss out on alternative targets or drum up the necessary cash as fan frustration grows and the need for reinforcements grows more desperate.
Should a club come in and match Leeds’ valuation, then it would be hard to see them turn it down. Extensive work on scouting wide attackers earlier this summer would suggest they have contingency plans in place, but the nightmare scenario would be a late offer that leaves them either turning down a huge sum or scrambling for a replacement.
Those in charge at Elland Road will hope it doesn’t get that far and their stance is firm enough to keep teams at arm’s length, as it has done so far this summer. No team has been able to keep a player like Summerville in the Championship for a second season, but Leeds look well set to buck that trend as it stands.
