Leeds United came away with a 1-0 win over Bristol City on Friday night, temporarily plunging the Peacocks up to second place in the Championship thanks to a goal from Wilfried Gnonto.
Daniel Farke’s side are in a hot vein of form at the moment, having won all five of their previous five league outings, moving into the automatic promotion spots for the first time this season, although this was short-lived following Southampton’s result away at Rotherham United.
The Yorkshire outfit were subject to a lot of transfer rumours during the January window, particularly surrounding Crysencio Summerville who has been tearing it up in the Championship this term.
The Dutch attacker has scored 12 goals and recorded seven assists in 28 appearances in all competitions for Leeds United and garnered interest from several clubs in the top-flight and in Europe, including Champions League chasers Aston Villa.
However, Feyenoord manager Arne Slot has now revealed that the Dutch champions were keen to bring the 22-year-old back to De Kuip before the winter window closed on Thursday night, but a deal for the winger proved too expensive.
Speaking to Voetbal Zone in a recent interview, Slot said [quotes via Caught Offside]:
“We have not been able to find a player who strengthens us in attack and who was feasible for us.
“It is not difficult to find such a player. I’ve said that before because I can think of a lot (of players such as this). However, it must also fit within our financial possibilities. A player must want to come to us and have the will to play in the Eredivisie.”
I would have liked to see Summerville on our side. But he is too expensive.
“I have found him an interesting player for a long time.”
Writer’s View
When a player in the Championship is doing well, it will always inevitably lead to interest from big clubs in the top-flight and in Europe. Summerville, Sunderland’s Jack Clarke, Leicester City’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Norwich City’s Jonathan Rowe are all prime examples of this.
However, Summerville has arguably been the best player in the division this season and so it was of vital importance that Leeds United managed to hold onto his services until at least the end of the campaign, as losing the forward would have been a massive blow to their hopes of negotiating promotion back to the Premier League.