Leeds star sold by Christiansen is outscoring Rutter & Summerville in PL

Leeds United fell to their second defeat of the Championship season on Wednesday night as they were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Millwall at The Den.

Their only other loss in the division, also a 1-0 defeat, came against Burnley at Elland Road and the Whites remain inside the top six, as they chase promotion back to the Premier League at the second time of asking.

Daniel Farke’s side just missed out on promotion last season, finishing third in the table before losing in the play-off final, and the German head coach will be hoping that it is second time lucky this term.

The German manager won the Championship two times in three attempts with Norwich City, which shows that he knows how to get out of the league, but it is down to him to prove that he can do it with another club.

Farke’s hopes of achieving promotion in his second season in West Yorkshire were, though, dealt a blow during the summer transfer window, as a number of his key players moved on.

Crysencio Summerville, Archie Gray, Georginio Rutter, and Glen Kamara all sealed permanent exits, with Summerville and Rutter’s departures coming as a huge blow to the manager’s attacking options.

Summerville’s form since leaving Leeds

The Dutch forward earned himself a move to Premier League side West Ham United after a superb return of 19 goals and nine assists in the Championship during the 2023/24 campaign.

His exploits in the final third resulted in Summerville claiming the PFA Championship Player of the Year award, which made it difficult for the Whites to keep hold of him after they failed to win promotion.

Since his move to the Hammers, however, the 23-year-old wizard has not enjoyed the easiest of starts to the season in the English top-flight.

Summerville has failed to establish himself as a regular starter for Julen Lopetegui at West Ham and has not shown enough in his minutes on the pitch to earn more game time.

As you can see in the table above, the former Leeds superstar has only started two of his nine appearances, which suggests that the manager does not trust him to start week-in-week-out at this point in his career.

In those nine games, the winger has produced a goal but has also failed to provide much in the way of creativity and has lost the majority of his physical duels.

For the £25m that they reportedly paid the Whites to secure his signature, West Ham will be hoping that Summerville will eventually kick on and emerge as a key player for the Hammers.

Rutter’s form since leaving Leeds

Meanwhile, Brighton & Hove Albion smashed their transfer record to sign Rutter from Leeds for a reported fee of £40m, and he has fared better than his former teammate so far.

The France U21 international racked up six goals and 15 assists in 42 appearances in the Championship for the West Yorkshire outfit last season, which convinced the Seagulls to splash a huge amount of cash on the attacking midfielder.

Brighton have been lining up in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation under Fabian Hürzeler this term, with Rutter up alongside Danny Welbeck in the former and in the number ten position in the latter.

This has helped to allow the French star to showcase the best of his abilities in the final third as both a scorer and a creator for Brighton, establishing himself as a regular starter whilst Summerville still struggles to do so.

As you can see in the table above, Rutter has produced five goals and ‘big chances’ created in just seven Premier League starts for his new club, living up to his huge price tag already.

He is also incredibly unfortunate not to be on three assists and four ‘big chances’ created as his tackle-cum-cross for Welbeck against Tottenham, for reasons unknown, was not accredited to him as an assist or chance created.

Where Are They Now

Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast’s Where Are They Now series.

Whilst Summerville and Rutter have had varying degrees of success in the top-flight since leaving Elland Road, there is one former Leeds star who is outperforming both of them – Chris Wood.

Chris Wood’s form this season

It has been over seven years since the New Zealand international made the move from Leeds to Burnley for a reported fee of £15m, shortly after Thomas Christiansen arrived at the club, as the manager cashed in on the forward in his first transfer window in charge.

He had racked up 44 goals in 88 games for the Whites during a two-year spell in West Yorkshire and then managed a return of 53 goals in 165 games during his time with Burnley.

Wood then spent 12 months with Newcastle, from January 2022 to January 2023, and only produced five goals in 39 outings for the Magpies, before his transfer to Nottingham Forest – initially on loan – at the start of last year.

The former Leeds star only scored one goal in seven games during the second half of the 2022/23 campaign for the Tricky Trees, before hitting his stride last term with 14 goals in 31 Premier League matches.

As you can see in the table above, Wood has made a phenomenal start to the current season with Nottingham Forest, scoring eight goals in ten games and overperforming against his xG.

The 32-year-old marksman, who was described as a “winger’s dream” by ex-West Ham and Wolves forward Matt Jarvis, has only been outscored by Manchester City’s Erling Haaland (11), which means that he has been one of the top strikers in the division this term.

He has outperformed and outscored both Rutter and Summerville in the Premier League this season and it is a shame that Leeds were never able to enjoy his goalscoring exploits in the top-flight during his time at Elland Road.

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