Crysencio Summerville makes absurd Raphinha admission after Leeds exit
Crysencio Summerville has lifted the lid on his experience playing with Raphinha at Leeds United before their Elland Road exits.
In a conversation with Voetbal International [2 December], as quoted by Voetbal Primeur, the West Ham attacker named the Brazil international as the best player has played with.
The 23-year-old acknowledged Raphinha’s talent, but reserved special praise for his hard work, describing it as “absurd”.
“I always say this to everyone in my circle, Raphinha is the best player I’ve ever played with”, Summerville said.
“With all due respect to the others, but what I’ve seen from him… Not only his gift and his talent, but also the work he puts in. It’s absurd.”
Summerville also shared what Raphinha told him during their conversations behind the scenes, while also revealing he always tried to play like the Barcelona star in training at Thorp Arch.
“He always said, ‘Cry, the qualities you have… Show them’. In training, I tried to play like him”, he added.
“Then I got more courage and I also thought, ‘You know Cry, just do it, show your qualities, work hard’.”
Crysencio Summerville and Raphinha shone at Leeds United
Both Summerville and Raphinha often set the stage alight at Leeds and it was a shame to see them leave in 2024 and 2022 respectively.
The Whites pocketed a combined sum of £80million from their sales [BBC & Sky Sports], but the void left by them proved hard to fill.
It is worth noting that Summerville was still learning the ropes at Thorp Arch when Raphinha was pulling the strings for the Yorkshire-based club.
The only time the pair shared the pitch was during a brief 12-minute spell in Leeds’ 2-0 loss to West Ham in the FA Cup third round on 1 September 2022.
Raphinha has turned a corner at Barcelona after enduring a tough start to his life in Catalonia, scoring 14 goals and providing 10 assists in 20 appearances across all competitions this season.
Summerville, meanwhile, is still finding his feet at the London Stadium, having found the back of the net just in 12 league appearances so far.
In other Leeds United news, this Whites star has been slammed as more questions than answers emerge at Elland Road.
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