Leeds United: Marcelo Bielsa resisted chance to attacker in favour of Crysencio Summerville – Phil Hay
Former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa resisted the chance to sign Ryan Kent from Rangers in favour of Crysencio Summerville, according to Phil Hay.
Writing on The Athletic website on Thursday (4 January), the journalist said the Whites boss decided to promote the Netherlands winger to the first team instead of signing former Ibrox man Kent, who now plays for Turkish side Fenerbahce.
He added that the club believed the 22-year-old’s quality would “ooze from him” if he was given enough time to impress at Elland Road.
“The club believed he had quality that would ooze from him if given enough time, and they resisted a chance to sign Ryan Kent from Scottish side Rangers in 2021 to promote a then 20-year-old Summerville to the first-team fold while Marcelo Bielsa was head coach,” said Hay.
Right decision
It looks as though Leeds made the right decision to promote Summerville to the first team as he has now emerged as a key player for the club.
If he had instead been kept out of the picture for much longer, then perhaps he wouldn’t have grown into the player he has become over the past year or so.
The winger showed his quality in the Premier League last season before taking the Championship by storm during this campaign, scoring 12 goals and laying on six assists in 23 league appearances.
The decision to not sign Kent has probably been justified after Rangers decided to let him go in the summer and he hasn’t been pulling up any trees in Turkey this season.
Summerville, meanwhile, looks set to go right to the top and, if he doesn’t help fire the West Yorkshire club back to the Premier League this year, then they will probably make an awful lot of money on him.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites could be set to call up a player’s agent to complete their first January transfer.