Leeds at risk of a toxic summer if Rutter’s impending sale isn’t spark for signings — The Athletic 16/8/24

By Nancy Froston

The summer is slipping into a state of disarray for Leeds United and they have 15 days left of the transfer window to salvage the situation.

The impending sale of Georginio Rutter to Brighton follows Crysencio Summerville’s exit to West Ham and Archie Gray’s switch to Tottenham Hotspur. This will mean United have lost three prized assets. That is a blow to Daniel Farke’s hopes of building a squad capable of challenging for promotion, but the slow arrival of replacements is making his task ever more difficult.

This should have been a much calmer and more methodical summer for Leeds compared to last year’s post-relegation overhaul of the playing squad. It has not proven to be that way. While there have been arrivals in the form of Joe Rodon from Spurs (£10million), Jayden Bogle from Sheffield United (£5m), Alex Cairns from Salford (undisclosed but nominal fee) and Joe Rothwell from Bournemouth (loan), more recruits are needed for this to be seen as anything other than a poorly managed window.

Farke has long wanted more depth in the form of a central midfielder and a full-back. He also wanted another winger to compensate for Summerville’s exit. An attacking midfielder or No 10 will join that growing list as deadline day looms.

Leeds’ situation is, given their position of strength coming into the window, looking fairly desperate. These three high-profile exits have earned the club around £105million — with the £40m Brighton are about to pay for Rutter — but it does not put them in the strongest negotiating position for targets. Everyone knows they need to recruit and should have the cash to pay a decent fee.

From a near-perfect pre-season, Leeds now have a weaker squad and are without a win in their first two games, conceding six goals. Defensive frailties cannot be entirely blamed on player exits given the attacking roles Summerville and Rutter occupied, but the changing mood in the stands at Elland Road is hard to ignore.

“I wasn’t aware when I signed the contract (as manager) one year ago that this could happen, but obviously when you look into the details of contracts, you become aware,” Farke said of Rutter’s likely departure. “To be fair, 12 months ago you couldn’t predict that someone would activate the release clause. I won’t say the sum, but be sure it’s a proper sum of money. It’s just due to the work Georgi has done in the past 12 months and the work we have done with him as a club to create value with him.

“We were all hoping that we wouldn’t have to speak about this clause because we hoped it wouldn’t be activated. We’re not motivated to have the biggest bank account in this league. We want to have the best team and we wanted to have Georgi Rutter, we have tried everything to do this. But a contract is a contract and you have to stick to what you have signed in the past.”

Losing last season’s Championship player of the year Summerville was expected. It was the preferred method to clear up profit and sustainability issues. Leeds needed to make a decent sale before the June 30 deadline, but nobody came in for him before that date. Gray — who would have been the easiest of the three big departures to convince to stay at the club — was sold for a fee between £30m and £40m instead.

It was an unpopular but necessary sale activated by Spurs triggering a release clause in Gray’s contract. In theory, though, it should have meant United would be able to hold onto their best assets. But those release clauses have popped up twice more as both Summerville and — soon — Rutter have moved to the top flight.

There is a degree of Leeds paying for their old mistakes in this window. Farke has publicly spoken about the way Leeds structured contracts during their time in the Premier League. The release clauses meant there was always a risk of buying players now and paying for it later. In the wake of relegation and a failed first attempt at winning promotion, this is what paying later looks like.

But United are also unlikely to spend all their incomings at once because 49ers Enterprises are a more measured operation as owners. That strategy will not win favour with everyone, particularly on the back of so many exits and the unpopular decision to bring Red Bull in as shirt sponsors this summer. Where it risks becoming toxic, however, is if there are not many more incomings to offset those knocks.

There is time left in the window for Leeds to get what they need, but it will only get harder for them to land the players they want on the terms they want as the deadline draws closer. Clubs also become beholden to players as pressure for signings grows, as Leeds found when they pushed to stay in the Premier League. The inclusion of Rutter’s release clause is said to have been important in signing him from Hoffenheim in January 2023 for a club-record fee.

Leeds’ total incomings this window are in the region of £140million. The rest of the Championship’s outgoings come to around the same figure combined, according to data from Transfermarkt. United knew they had talented players worth big money who would attract interest coming into the window. They knew they would have to make sales and they knew losing the play-off final at Wembley would come at a cost, but they did not expect to find themselves going into the second matchday of the season without their three best on-pitch assets — and with replacements still being sought.

The price of that defeat at Wembley is more painful and more alarming for a team with ambitions of promotion than most supporters could have imagined. Leeds have 15 days left to fill the gaps in the squad or risk this becoming a season defined by the disastrous talent drain this summer.