Leeds United potential 'without question' hides behind Daniel Farke's £150m Real Madrid quip — YEP 28/10/23

Daniel Farke's tongue was firmly in cheek when he spoke about £150m sums, Real Madrid and Georginio Rutter after another joyful display but the manager is in no doubt as to his striker's potential.

By Graham Smyth

Rutter has this season presented an altogether different picture of himself from the youngster who arrived amid Premier League relegation stress and was handed little more than a cameo role. The Frenchman's struggles, following a £35m move from Hoffenheim, and noises about his emotional reluctance to leave his former team-mates behind, led to a feeling that he could well depart in the summer. But when the transfer exodus came Rutter was not among those rushing for the exits, opting instead to stay and try to put things right. As far as incoming owners 49ers Enterprises were concerned during the summer there was no salvage job to be done because in their eyes Rutter was a young player with just a handful of months of Elland Road life under his belt. And Farke was more than happy to make the 21-year-old a big part of his plans.

The result, thus far, is two goals, five assists and countless flashes of brilliance, including dribbling magic and sliderule passes to cut defences apart. Rutter was at it again in the Yorkshire derby meeting with Huddersfield Town, sending Crysencio Summerville away with a lovely lofted ball deep in his own half, running past right-back Tom Edwards as if he wasn't there and then feeding Summerville for one of the Dutchman's two goals. As has been the case for eight consecutive outings now, however, Rutter provided everything but the finish and was unable to get on the scoresheet himself in the 4-1 victory.

"I also want him to be keen and greedy to score," said Farke in yet another purring appraisal of Rutter's performance.

"He's excellent in so many ways, his fitness level, his work ethic for the team, in the first half he was unplayable, involved in each and every goal, great amounts of assists already. His goal tally could be a bit better, today he could perhaps have scored in the first half but he's a young player - if he would be perfect in all areas we'd have to accept Real Madrid would buy him for £150m. He has all the potential to do this but thank God it's not the case at the moment. Still space for improvement and could also do with a few more goals and then we'd all be a bit more happy."

It can be difficult not to foresee greatness in Rutter's future when he's gliding past players, flicking his way out of pressure or laying chances on a plate for team-mates but where Farke believes he can make the biggest strides towards realising his potential is in his mental approach to in-game scenarios.

"His potential and his talent is outstanding without question, he can be some player one day, but sometimes he chooses too complicated a solution, it's finding the balance of going for a risky unexpected thing or the easy pass," said Farke.

"He's a young player, he can still improve his decision making. We've worked a lot on his effectiveness. He's on the top level already but we can still improve his ability to score more goals. There's still space for improvement. But he can be a really, really special player in the future."