Crysencio Summerville’s true feelings about Leeds United as a ‘fighter’ responds to Jesse Marsch

The Leeds United toilet was deathly silent. The shock of relegation was still setting in when captain Liam Cooper stood up and told those around him who didn’t want to stay and fight to make one. Among those listening that painful afternoon at Elland Road was an unused substitute: Crysencio Summerville.

There would have been interest from elsewhere that summer, but ultimately there was only one thought on the ‘calm’ Dutchman’s mind as the window progressed: bringing Leeds back to the sea. This was a club that had long left its mark, as close friend Melayro Bogarde explained.

“He’s always been positive about Leeds and the fan base,” Summerville’s former Feyenoord team-mate told Leeds Live. “If you’re doing like he’s doing now, of course you’re going to be happy.”

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You can tell Summerville is enjoying life at Leeds ahead of the biggest game of his career on Sunday and the numbers speak for themselves in that regard: 20 goals, nine assists and 120 chances created. Summerville has always been a highly-rated prospect but the Championship Player of the Season has reached new heights under Daniel Farke.

In such a high-stakes play-off final against the likes of Southampton, Summerville is one of a number of genuine game-changers at Leeds’ disposal who the Whites hope will help bring them back to the promised land, more rather than bidding potential. farewell in defeat. So what is it about Summerville that makes it a little different? Let’s ask Wouter Berger, who has known Summerville for a decade after joining the ranks at Feyenoord.

“Cree is a very good one-on-one player,” the Stoke City midfielder told Leeds Live. “He’s always somebody who’s really dangerous. You just have to play him the ball and he makes something special out of it.”

It is worth noting that Southampton have kept Summerville quiet in both of their previous league meetings this season. However, Wembley feels like a stage fit for Summerville to step up when it matters most – and the 22-year-old certainly doesn’t need any extra motivation.

Summerville once told his brother that one day he would play in the Premier League; the attacker was 12 years old at the time. When Summerville realized that dream in 2021, the prospect couldn’t help but break down in tears when he got home. That wasn’t necessarily Summerville’s breakout moment, though. Nor was it a stunning winner at Anfield, for that matter.

The reality is that Summerville have made more appearances in a season in the Championship than they have ever made in the Premier League. Former boss Jesse Marsch repeatedly said that “discipline, professionalism and work ethic” were a “big factor” for Summerville, whether it was training early enough, working in the gym or paying attention in sessions. analyze. Farke, on the other hand, spoke of a more mature player who is “more or less every day on the training pitch”.

Clearly, for all of Summerville’s well-documented flair, there is also a steeliness to reaching the top, as explained by former Feyenoord academy director Damien Hertog.

“It’s really brave,” Hertog told Leeds Live. “He’s a fighter. He wants to be the best, and when you get older, you stand up for yourself, which is a good thing. You need that to survive and succeed.”

Summerville needs a lot of that quality. The Dutchman has always been one of the smallest players in his age group, but his intelligence, technical ability and explosive speed made that not matter.

Summerville was always able to get out of a tight spot or change direction in the last minute after seeing a challenge coming. This was a youngster who once even put Real Madrid to the sword at youth level at the Mladen Ramljak Memorial International Tournament in Zagreb.

Richard Grootscholten, who was Feyenoord’s academy director at the time, was among those watching that afternoon in 2018 and still sees that “same boy receiving the ball and dribbling past three players trying to hit him” .

“It doesn’t matter if there are thousands of people in the stadium or if people are negative towards him – he will do it again,” he told Leeds Live. “He’s a special talent.”

Just as Summerville was fearless on the pitch, the same was true off it as the striker left behind Feyenoord and everything he knew in Rotterdam at the age of 19 to move to Leeds. It was a difficult adjustment at first, but Summerville didn’t give up.

“I’ve always admired that he really does what’s on his mind,” Berger added. “How he sees things is his truth. That’s why he follows his plan, and that’s a really strong quality.”