Leeds United transfer news, rumours and updates live: Premier League Club Eyes Wilfred Gnonto

Premier League giants West Ham United are all ready for the upcoming Premier League season as they look to strengthen their side in the transfer window. The Londoners will be looking to reach back at the heights of previous terms when they played European football for three consecutive seasons. To bolster their side, the Hammers have signed Crysencio Summerville from Leeds United on a five-year deal.

Summerville who helped Leeds reach the Championship Playoff finals last season will be a key addition to Julen Lopetegui’s side. He will be an advanced winger with the ability to play in the middle and was snapped from the Yorkshire club for a reported fee of $30 million. In the coming days, West Ham are also interested in signing Niclas Füllkrug who has agreed on a deal to join the London giants from Borussia Dortmund and will be another attacking option at the new manager’s disposal.

The Hammers have confirmed the signing of Leeds United star Crysencio Summerville, who scored 21 goals in all competitions last season despite Leeds missing out on promotion. West Ham will reportedly pay £25 million for the 22-year-old’s services.

Summerville was last season’s Championship Player of the Year and made a big contribution to Leed United’s title push last season. The player has reportedly agreed to pen a long-term contract with West Ham.

West Ham have been impressive in the summer window after they added both Luis Guilherme and Max Kilman to Julen Lopetegui’s squad.

As per ‘Sky Sports’ and further backed by renowned football Journalist ‘Dharmesh Sheth’, Premier League’s West Ham United have agreed on a deal with EFL Championship club Leeds United to sign the winger Crysencio Summerville.

‘Sky Sports’ has laid out that the Dutch player is expected to have his medical at the Hammers within 24 hours from the initial report. It has also been termed that Summerville could join the rest of the West Ham players in the USA for the pre-season if all goes as per plan.

West Ham is currently involved in a pre-season tournament namely – ‘The Stateside Cup’, consisting of other Premier League teams in the form of Wolves and Crystal Palace.

Crysencio Summerville is the type of player who can really enhance Julen Lopetegui’s attacking options leading into the new season. The 22-year-old primarily plays as a left-winger but is well capable of shifting to the right wing as well if the situation demands.

The Dutch forward has 28 goal contributions (19 goals and nine assists) to his name in his 43 appearances for Leeds United in the previous EFL Championship season. It can be inferred from his numbers that he was certainly one of the most impactful players in English football last season.

It remains to be seen how Lopetegui inducts him into his playing 11 come the new season. Summerville had earlier played in the Premier League with Leeds United before they got relegated.

Sunderland have reportedly signed forward Ian Poveda from Leeds United on three-year deal, revealed Sunderland Echo on X. The 24-year-old has signed a three-year deal with the Black Cats, ending his nightmare with the Peacocks. Since joining them in 2021, he has seen more spells away from Elland Road than in it, including three loan spells, at Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday. In fact, he made only 36 appearances for Leeds in all competitions, including 25 in the league. At Sunderland, he will be aiming for some stability, and the Black Cats have the option of extending his stay by another year.

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Rasmus Kristensen has completed a move from Leeds United to Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt. Kristensen has joined Frankfurt on loan and the deal with Leeds also has a 15 million Euros buy option.

Kristensen, a 27-year-old Denmark international, plays as a right-back. He made 30 appearances for Leeds, scoring thrice and providing one assist. Apart from Leeds, Kristensen has played in several leagues across the globe.

He has been part of teams like Ajax, AS Roma, FC Midtjylland, and more during his career. He is also experienced at the international level, having made 21 appearances for Denmark. He was in Denmark’s squad for Euro 2024 but didn’t make a single appearance during the competition.

Premier League club Everton are looking to bolster their attacking options ahead of the new season and have made Leeds United winger Wilfried Gnonto one of their top targets. The Italian winger has been impressive for Leeds in the EFL Championship for the last couple of seasons and a step-up to the top flight could be a tempting opportunity to further his career.

The Toffees recently sold midfielder Amadou Onana to fellow Premier League side Aston Villa for a whopping £50 million and are looking to reinvest the funds towards player recruitment. Manager Sean Dyche is reportedly keen on adding firepower to their attacking ranks and has identified Leeds’ Gnonto as the perfect player for the squad and system.

Wilfried Gnonto joined Leeds United from Swiss side FC Zurich in September 2022 and has made 72 appearances for the Championship side, scoring 13 goals and providing seven assists. Last season, his impact with the team was hampered by periodic injuries, but he still made 44 appearances across competitions, scoring nine goals and providing three assists. Still only 20 years old, Gnonto has most of his career ahead of him and could be tempted to make the move to Everton.

The Toffees, however, will likely have to shell out way more than the player’s £15 million valuation to acquire him.

The 30-year-old defender has not played for Leeds over the past 18 months and spent the last season on loan at Serie A side Roma. Spanish side Real Betis have made an opening bid for the Spaniard but it was swiftly rejected by Leeds United.

The Andalusian club are keen to sign the Real Madrid academy graduate for less than €5 million for whom Leeds United paid £ 18 million four summers ago. Llorente initially joined Roma on a six-month loan in January 2023 but the deal was extended until June of this year. Roma had a clause in Llorente’s contract to make the deal permanent but they refused to exercise towards the end of last season.

A new bid is expected from Real Betis and some reports suggest that the deal can be closed for around €4 million. Diego Llorente’s entourage are optimistic that the Spaniard will move to Real Betis by the end of next week.