The exact figure Brighton could end up paying Leeds United to sign Georginio Rutter — Leeds United News 17/8/24
Danny Bloomer
Georginio Rutter has successfully passed a medical ahead of
his move from Leeds United to Brighton.
The 22-year-old’s move to the South Coast is expected to be
announced imminently as the prospect of losing yet another key player becomes
reality for Leeds.
Leeds had fought to convince Rutter to stay at Elland Road,
with the offer of a new contract even on the table. However, the chance to play
for a progressive Premier League club was too good to turn down.
Rutter will become the fourth high profile exit of the
summer for Leeds following on from Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Glen
Kamara.
The 49ers now have an enormous task to replace these
players, but there certainly should be plenty of cash in the bank to do so.
It is public knowledge that Brighton activated a £40 million
release clause in Rutter‘s contract in order to get the deal done.
Having seen offers of £29 million and £35 million turned
down, Brighton were able to trigger it in the nick of time, with the deadline
to do so midnight on Wednesday.
However, according to Sky in Germany journalist Florian
Plettenberg, the £40 million release clause is not as cut and dry as it may
seem.
Plettenberg says Brighton could end up paying Leeds as much
as £42.6 million (€50 million) for Rutter, which includes all the possible
bonus payments.
However, Leeds will not see the full amount of that due to
how much they owe Hoffenheim from when they bought him back in January 2023.
Kicker reported yesterday Leeds will have to pay Hoffenheim
an extra £4.2 million (€5 million) as a result of the bonuses that weren’t
reached in the original deal.
At that stage, it was unclear whether Hoffenheim also had a
sell-on clause, but Plettenberg has now clarified that in saying they do.
As a result, Hoffenheim will actually receive between £5.1m
and £5.9m (€6m-€7m) from Leeds immediately, meaning the 49ers won’t be making
much profit at all.
With so many key players having now departed, Leeds fans
will be hoping and praying that no one else follows Rutter through the exit
door in the next 13 days.
Wilfried Gnonto is certainly the one most fans are worried
about considering he has lost his two closest friends at the club, and
Everton’s interest.
However, Leeds have already made up their mind with what
they plan to do with Gnonto in the next 13 days, and that is he will be going
nowhere.
It is said Farke and the hierarchy believe Leeds’ promotion
bid would be seriously ‘derailed’ if they were to let Gnonto follow the others
out of the exit door and so will block any potential offers.