Crysencio Summerville situation at West Ham may ease Leeds United transfer pain | OneFootball

Last year's Championship Player of the Year hasn't acclimatised to Premier League football just yet

When Leeds United failed to achieve promotion at the end of the 2023/24 Championship campaign, their fans feared the worst as Premier League vultures came swirling around their most prized players.

Leeds had just done the double in the EFL awards, with Crysencio Summerville winning Player of the Season and Archie Gray winning Young Player of the Season. Alongside French wonderkid Georginio Rutter, Daniel Farke now employed a trio of Premier League quality players in a squad set for another season in the Championship.

18-year-old superstar Gray was the first of the trio to depart, moving to Tottenham Hotspur for £30 million in July. Brighton and Hove Albion would then break their club-record fee to bring in Frenchman Rutter for £40 million.

In the middle of those two deals, Dutch winger Summerville was purchased by West Ham United for a fee in excess of £25 million plus add-ons.

However, with Rutter excelling in a youthful Brighton set-up, and Gray being a rare bright spark in an utterly disastrous season at Tottenham, it is rather surprising that the best player in the Championship last season was the one that has struggled the most in the top-flight this campaign.

West Ham came into the new Premier League season with plenty of promise off the back of a summer transfer window which saw them bring in the likes of Niclas Füllkrug, Max Kilman, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Crysencio Summerville.

Ultimately, whilst they won't be relegated from the top flight, 2024/25 has been a disappointing one for the Hammers and for Summerville.

The 23-year-old winger hasn't been able to beat defenders with the ease that he was used to in the Championship, ranking in the bottom 40% among Premier League wingers in successful dribbles, touches and dribble success percentage, according to Fotmob.

Therefore, the Dutchman was in and out of the starting eleven under Julen Lopetegui, starting just seven league games, with only four coming in succession following his sole Premier League goal off the bench against Manchester United - which would have pleased Leeds fans.

He's only played just 45 minutes under new boss Graham Potter too, starting and assisting Lucas Paqueta's stunner in West Ham's FA Cup defeat to Aston Villa. A hamstring injury saw him be taken off at half-time, and we are yet to see a return over three months later.

With The Athletic reporting that Summerville is aiming to return to full fitness at the end of April, we may have to wait until next season to see whether it was a case of the wrong manager for the winger and whether the former Leeds man will thrive under Potter.

As for now, though, it looks like the £25 million that Daniel Farke's side received for Summerville is a slight overpay, which will ease the pain of losing one of their best players last summer somewhat among Leeds fans.

Summerville can come good in the Premier League - he's shown glimpses of quality

However, it would be silly to write off Summerville in the Premier League after one below-average season which has been affected by a lack of consistent game time and injuries.

At 23, the winger has bags of potential to improve, and he has already shown what he can bring to the table in the Premier League in a burst of form during the 2022/23 season while playing for Leeds.

The then-20-year-old announced himself on the top-flight stage with four goals in as many games for Leeds in late 2022, including a famous winner at Anfield. Whilst his productivity dried up as the Whites suffered relegation, that purple patch will ring in the back of West Ham fans' minds, who hope that he can retrieve that form next season.

Being picked for Potter's first game as West Ham manager and putting in a solid showing proves that the Hammers' boss has faith in the Dutchman. Ultimately, it's up to Summerville to repay that faith if he is to find himself with more consistent minutes in the Premier League next season.