Phil Hay ‘surprised’ by Crysencio Summerville, names him as Leeds’ best player in 2023 despite ‘bright spark’ rival
Phil Hay has been “surprised” by Crysencio Summerville’s sensational form for Leeds United this season, going as far as to name him the club’s best player of 2023 ahead of “bright spark” Georginio Rutter.
The Athletic journalist was speaking on the Square Ball podcast (22 December, 15:30) and waxed lyrical about the form of Summerville, who he expected to play second fiddle to Wilfried Gnonto at Elland Road this term.
Reflecting on a 12 months that has seen Leeds been relegated from the Premier League and launch a return mission in the Championship, Hay has been most impressed by in-form winger Summerville.
“At the start of the season, and prior to Gnonto causing him (Daniel Farke) problems, I assumed Gnonto would play a lot this year and particularly because it was the Championship would be first choice winger,” he said.
“So Summerville to my mind has probably been the best player at Leeds at this point. I was doing a review of the year and I was asked to pick player of the year and I said it’s got to be from August onwards hasn’t it because last season it was basically Rodrigo and nobody else and I don’t think you would really be giving it to Rodrigo.
“So, initially I was thinking ‘it’s Rutter isn’t it?’ you know he’s been the kind of real bright spark and he’s been doing things that other players in the Championship don’t really do but actually I think in terms of overall impact, Summerville just keeps doing it.
“Ten goals already is really impressive, particularly the position he plays plus the assists on top of that. So deservedly first choice which surprised me slightly given that I thought it would be Gnonto would be certainly leading the way in that position. And also Dan James has come to the fore.”
An absolute diamond
There is a lot of truth to what Hay is saying here, most would have expected Gnonto to be regular starter even accounting for the transfer saga that unfolded during a tumultuous summer at Elland Road.
But the numbers do not lie and boy has Summerville been impressive this season. 10 Championship goals, six assists, 10 big chances created, 3.1 key passes per 90 minutes (SofaScore) – he has been an absolute creative force for the Whites.
An honourable mention should go to Rutter, who has really turned the opinion of the supporters around after a difficult start when he signed for a club-record fee last January to become a star of a side fighting for promotion.
However, Summerville has been an absolute gem in this Farke side, and it is hard to argue with Hay’s assessment here that he has been the best player of 2023, especially if you discount the first five months of the year, which most Leeds fans definitely want to do!
In other Leeds United news, Spanish media were impressed by what Marc Roja did on Thursday.