Leeds United are profiting from Burnley and Everton's transfer concerns: View | OneFootball

Highlights

Leeds United fending off interest from the Premier League for Crysencio Summerville this summer appears to have been the correct decision as he continues to impress in the Championship.

Who was interested in Summerville in the summer?

According to Dutch outlet FCUpdate, Aston Villa were looking to bring the winger to the club during the summer transfer window. Other clubs credited with interest included RB Leipzig, and also Borussia Dortmund, according to BILD.

Summerville was also said to be of interest to Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, as per Phil Hay of The Athletic, who outlined the Dutchman as one of many potential departures during the summer window for the Whites.

According to De Telegraaf, via Football Oranje, PSV were very keen to bring Summerville back to the Netherlands this summer.

Fabrizio Romano revealed on transfer deadline day that a bid of around £20m was rejected by Leeds for the winger from Burnley, with the Whites said to be holding out for more.

Romano more recently outlined that Premier League outfits are keeping tabs on Summerville ahead of a potential swoop in the January transfer window.

What's the latest on Summerville?

However, the winger remains settled at Elland Road and that could make it easier for the club to keep him than Willy Gnonto - with the pair both on the radar of Everton, according to Ben Jacobs who spoke to Give Me Sport.

Jacobs explained: "A January exit is by no means guaranteed because he is integral to Leeds at the moment. Naturally, there’s going to be interest, as there was over the summer. Everton, Bournemouth and Burnley, for example, have all looked at the player.

"But it’s a very different situation to Wilfried Gnonto, who ended up staying but tried to force his way out of the club and then eventually apologised to Daniel Farke. Angus Kinnear, Leeds’ chief executive, played a big role in smoothing that situation over.

"With Summerville, he was a model professional and has a very strong relationship with Farke. In many ways, it was the player himself that wanted to stay at Leeds last summer, rather than drive an exit.

"That is highly significant in all of this because Summerville really likes Leeds and is settled at Leeds. He felt, over the summer, that Leeds was the best place for him to be."

In the end, those sides opted not to sign the winger, with Phil Hay of The Athletic also confirming those links to Burnley last week, but explaining that Summerville was one of the players Farke fought hardest to retain this summer.

"Farke, from the day of his appointment in July, was allowed to stamp his own mark on the squad, a manager with the authority to call the shots. Part of the proof of that is that three of the players Leeds talked about selling in the summer window - Pascal Struijk, Illan Meslier and Crysencio Summerville - are among those who have played the most minutes under him.

"Burnley made a last-minute offer for Summerville but the arrival of Farke altered their plans. Farke wanted Leeds to keep all three players and made sure they did. Very quickly, they were moved off the list of prospective exits."

How is Summerville performing this season?

Summerville signed a new deal at the start of last season, keeping him tied down at Elland Road until the summer of 2026. He scored four and assisted a further two in what was his major breakout season with the Whites in 2021/22.

However, since then he has gone from strength to strength in the second tier, with the step down from the Premier League seeing him explode into life and develop at an even faster rate than many Leeds fans would have envisaged this season.

They are reaping the rewards of both Summerville himself and Farke wanting to keep him around, with the winger not only assisting and scoring regularly for Leeds but transforming into a vital player in and out of possession.

He has eight goals and assists in five games in the month of October. That's to add to a goal and assist on opening day against Cardiff City, taking the Dutchman to 10 in 12 games already, and almost doubling last season's tally already.

He now has the second-most goal contributions in the Championship behind Leicester's Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and is level with Jack Clarke and Adam Armstrong.

Alongside Clarke, Summerville has established himself as one of the best wingers in the division, overtaking his teammate Gnonto in the process.

It is a reminder to many young layers who are relegated from the Premier League that the grass isn't always greener and often you are better off staying where you are and developing in the second tier.

His two goal and two assists performance against Huddersfield was probably the best individual display by any Championship player in 2023/24 and Leeds will hope that his and Farke's stance remains the same throughout the January window to get even more games like that out of him and fire them back to the top-flight at the first time of asking,