Crysencio Summerville Leeds United clause revealed as winger completes West Ham United move — YEP 3/8/24
By Graham Smyth
Leeds United have confirmed the sale of Crysencio
Summerville to West Ham United after the Hammers triggered a clause in his
contract.
Summerville has joined the Premier League outfit for a sum
in excess of £25m, with add ons potentially further boosting Leeds' coffers.
The YEP understands Summerville's contract contained a clause that became
active upon the club's relegation from the Premier League but it was not until
this summer that it was triggered by West Ham's bid. Other clubs in the top
flight did take a look at Summerville but only the Hammers elected to trigger
the clause and take him to the Premier League.
The winger joined Leeds from Feyenoord in September 2020 for
£1.5m and flirted with senior football under Marcelo Bielsa. A year later
Summerville delivered significant hints as to his potential with goals in
back-to-back games, before his professionalism was called into question by
Bielsa's replacement Jesse Marsch, who told the press: "A big factor for
him is discipline and professionalism and work ethic. It was a little bit of
everything [that needed improving]: making sure that he was getting here early
enough, making sure that he was putting work in in the gym, that he was
preparing for training the right way, that he was paying attention to video,
that he was applying the lessons that we wanted to learn in training every
day." The YEP understands that Marsch denied Summerville permission to fly
to the Netherlands for his birthday, before photos emerged on his social media
account showing the winger partying with friends and family back home.
Summerville ended that season with four goals from 28
Premier League appearances and status as an exciting emerging talent, as the
Whites were relegated following Marsch's sacking and Sam Allardyce's
replacement of Javi Gracia.
Under Daniel Farke Summerville shone in the Championship,
marking himself out as a player with an ability level beyond that of most
opposition teams and players and scoring 19 goals and adding nine assists to
earn the title of EFL Championship Player of the Year and a place in the
affection of Whites supporters.
With 49ers Enterprises chief Paraag Marathe refusing to rule
out sales due to the club's Profitability and Sustainability position,
Summerville's future has been up in the air all summer. The youngster pulled
out of the club's second friendly against Hannover last weekend, citing a
hamstring issue and then this week West Ham's interest turned to action. The
two clubs reached a deal on Wednesday and Summerville travelled to London
before undergoing a two-part medical and coming to personal terms with the Hammers.
Despite links to Liverpool and Chelsea, and the early-window
interest of Brighton, West Ham were the only club to decide to make a move for
the 22-year-old, who becomes the seventh player to be sold by Leeds this
summer. Archie Gray went to Spurs for £40m, Glen Kamara was sold to Stade
Rennais for £8m and Charlie Cresswell to Toulouse for £3.8m, with Kris
Klaesson, Diego Llorente and Marc Roca also making permanent moves abroad.
Farke said after Saturday's friendly win over Valencia that
it would be no easy task for Leeds to replace a player of Summerville's calibre
as they are still 'paying for the sins of the past' and operating with 'pretty
limited resources' despite their player sales. Leeds were already in the market
for a full-back and a central midfielder and now must mitigate Summerville's
departure with another attacking signing.
A club statement said: "Leeds United can confirm
Crysencio Summerville has today joined West Ham United in a permanent deal for
an undisclosed fee, after an exit clause within his contract was triggered. The
22-year-old joined the Whites in 2020 and went on to impress in the youth setup
at Thorp Arch, before breaking into the first team in September 2021. His form
throughout the [last] campaign saw Summerville named the Sky Bet Championship
Player of the Season at the EFL awards in London. Crysencio now departs Elland
Road to join Premier League outfit West Ham and we wish him well for the
future."