Crysencio Summerville concrete Leeds United exit update as Brighton want to exploit FFP chance
Brighton are looking to take advantage of FFP pressures elsewhere to sign Crysencio Summerville from Leeds United quickly, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The Italian journalist reported on his Daily Briefing mailbag on 17 June that the Seagulls buying the Dutch winger was a “concrete possibility” because their finances are “absolutely perfect”, and a move has been sanctioned by new manager Fabian Herzeler.
Liverpool and Chelsea are both also interested in the Elland Road star but Brighton have now contacted Leeds to open talks as they look to push through a move early, with a price of between £35million and £40million likely.
Romano said: “It’s a concrete possibility. Brighton are trying. It’s a complicated deal because there are really many clubs interested in this great talent so obviously Brighton are trying to move fast.
“We know the financial fair play situation for many big clubs is quite complicated right now so Brighton are trying to take advantage of this situation. From the financial point of view they are absolutely perfect so they have the possibility to make some investments and signing a player like Summerville would be a big, big opportunity for them.
“What I’m hearing is that Brighton made contact in recent hours to explore the possibility to attack this situation.”
Brighton steal march on Liverpool and Chelsea in Leeds United transfer talks
Leeds United will surely want to see a bidding war started by Brighton’s early move which pushes the price for Summerville as high as possible.
But whether they are willing to sell early or wait around to see if Chelsea and Liverpool open negotiations of their own will depend largely on their own potential need to balance the books before 30 June.
The major new sponsorship deal with minority owners Red Bull will have helped boost the finances at Elland Road, but failure to gain promotion has made departures inevitable.
It would be somewhat ironic if the huge amounts of money Chelsea have spent at the Amex in the past two years meant they lost out on Summerville to Brighton but it looks like the south coast club believe it might.
Summerville, 22, looks to be Whites star at the top of the list of likely exits after a campaign where he scored 21 times in all competitions, followed by Willy Gnonto [Yorkshire Evening Post, 14 June].
The likes of Junior Firpo and Illan Meslier have been tipped as possible departures as well [Phil Hay, 8 June] but fans will likely be hoping homegrown star Archie Gray doesn’t have to join the list.
In other Leeds United news, an update on two more loanees returning after Brenden Aaronson has been issued.
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