Leeds United head coach Daniel Farke is hoping to continue his trend of never going more than two seasons without earning a promotion from the Championship.
In three seasons in the second tier with Norwich City earlier in his career, the German boss won two league titles to secure multiple promotions up to the Premier League.
The former Borussia Monchengladbach boss failed to achieve his goal in his first year at Elland Road, losing to Southampton in the play-off final, but can keep up his 50% rate by getting the team up this time.
Leeds are currently third in the Championship table and a win against Swansea on Saturday could send them to first place if results go their way, as they are only two points behind Sunderland and Sheffield United in the automatic promotion spots.
Farke still has his team competing at the top end of the table despite losing several of his key players in the summer transfer window earlier this year.
Crysencio Summerville, Georginio Rutter, Glen Kamara, and Archie Gray all moved on permanently, joining West Ham, Brighton, Rennes, and Tottenham respectively.
Crysencio Summerville's Championship form for Leeds
The Leeds winger was the best player in the Championship during the 2023/24 campaign and played a huge role in the team’s run to the play-off final.
He won the Championship Player of the Season and the PFA Championship Player of the Year awards for his efforts last term, which shows that pundits and players alike deemed him to be the best of the best.
Summerville earned those awards after a phenomenal return of 19 goals and nine assists in 43 appearances in the regular season in the second tier, which shows that he made a big impact as both a scorer and a creator of goals for the West Yorkshire outfit.
The 23-year-old star created 17 ‘big chances’ for his teammates and finished the regular season with an xA tally of 12.53. This suggests that his teammates let him down with their wasteful finishing in front of goal, as he was only rewarded with nine assists for his terrific creativity.
Goals
19
1st
Big chances created
17
2nd
Assists
9
2nd
Key passes per game
2.6
1st
Dribbles completed
101
2nd
As you can see in the table above, he was incredibly important to Farke’s attack with his contributions as a dribbler, a scorer, and a creator from a left wing position.
After Leeds failed to earn promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking, West Ham United swooped in to sign Summerville from the Whites for a reported fee of £25m plus add-ons.
Summerville was far from the first electric left winger the club has had on their books, though, as former starlet Jack Clarke could have been their original version of the Dutch sensation, had he stayed at Elland Road.
How much Leeds sold Jack Clarke for
The English forward came up through the ranks at Thorp Arch and scored two goals in 22 Championship matches for Marcelo Bielsa in his breakthrough year at senior level in the 2018/19 campaign.
Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur then snapped him up for a reported fee of £10m in the summer of 2019 before sending him back to Leeds on loan, which ended after one Championship appearance in the first half of the season.
After spells on loan with QPR, Stoke, and Sunderland, Clarke eventually signed for the Black Cats on a permanent deal in the summer of 2022 and thrived on Wearside.
In his two full seasons in the Championship with Sunderland, in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns, the English wizard showcased his ability to make things happen on a regular basis at the top end of the pitch.
Appearances
45
40
Goals
9
15
Assists
11
4
Big chances created
7
12
Dribbles completed per game
2.0
3.7
As you can see in the table above, Clarke, who was hailed as “unplayable” by pundit Adrian Clarke, produced goals and assists at an impressive rate.
These statistics show that the winger went on to become an electric right-footed left winger at Championship level, cutting in on from the left with devastating effect for Sunderland, just as Summerville did at Elland Road.
Therefore, Clarke – if Victor Orta had not cashed in on him in the summer of 2019 – could have developed into the club’s original Summerville, before they had even signed the young whiz from Feyenoord.
How much Jack Clarke is worth now
His form for Sunderland in the second tier attracted interest from top-flight clubs and Ipswich Town swooped in to secure a £20m deal for the speedster earlier this year.
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This means that his value doubled from the time Leeds decided to cash in on him to the recent summer transfer window, which suggests that the Whites had a howler by moving him on when they did.
Clarke and Summerville have now both moved on from Championship football and have both found life slightly difficult since making the jump up to the Premier League, with Ipswich and West Ham respectively.
Appearances
9
10
Starts
3
3
Goals
0
1
Assists
1
0
Big chances created
1
1
As you can see in the table above, the pair have combined for two direct goal contributions in 19 appearances and six starts in the top-flight for their respective clubs.
They have not been able to translate their stunning form from the Championship over to the Premier League as of yet, but they are both 23 and still have plenty of time left to develop and improve to prove themselves at that level.
Meanwhile, Leeds will be hoping that Largie Ramazani, who has scored three goals in six league starts this season, can emerge as the club’s next electric forward after his move from Almeria in the summer.
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