Former Leeds United man gives honest Crysencio Summerville transfer verdict amid promotion hope

Nigel Martyn believes the future of Crysencio Summerville will depend largely on if Leeds United achieve promotion back into the Premier League.

Summerville has been the standout player at Leeds this season and notched his 18th and 19th league goals of the campaign during Monday’s dramatic 4-3 win at Middlesbrough, slotting home a first-half penalty before a trademark curling finish on the hour mark. The 22-year-old also notched an assist for Wilfried Gnonto to hit the 30 goal contribution milestone.

Those goals and assists have been crucial to keeping Leeds in the promotion chase but also attracted the interest of top European clubs. Daniel Farke’s side will feel confident of keeping their stars if a return to the Premier League is secured but Martyn believes another year in the Championship could encourage someone like Summerville to leave.

"A lot of that depends on the results of the next few days probably,” Martyn told BBC Radio 5 Live of where Summerville’s future lay. “He has had an exceptional season and probably has been the best player in the division and scored a lot of goals coming from wide.

“You can see the attraction there for other teams as well. I think it is making sure of promotion and then you turn and have a look at who you need to keep hold of and he’s certainly the key one for them."

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Summerville looks to have rediscovered his goalscoring form at the perfect time and will hope to further increase his tally in the final two games of the season. Leeds go to Queens Park Rangers on Friday with the chance of pulling four points clear of Ipswich Town, albeit Kieran McKenna’s side will have two games in hand.

The Championship promotion race looks set to go down to the final day, with Leeds at home to Southampton who by that time could be mathematically out of the automatic promotion race. Leicester City and Ipswich host Blackburn Rovers and Huddersfield Town respectively, with both set to be fighting to survive.

Failure to go up, be it automatically or through the play-offs, would likely see at least one of United’s key players sold. Interest in Summerville is intensifying with reports naming the likes of Liverpool, Newcastle United and Bayer Leverkusen among a number of prospective suitors across Europe.

There was transfer interest in Summerville last year following relegation, with reports suggesting Vincent Kompany’s newly-promoted Burnley side saw a £20million bid rejected. Any move this summer would command a fee around double that, or more if Leeds operate a hardline stance. The Dutch winger will still have two years remaining on his contract at Elland Road come summer and after being crowned the Championship’s Player of the Season earlier this month, insisted a move away was never on the cards.

“I wasn't really thinking about going away,” he told the YEP. “We were very calm in the situation and at the end it was the best decision for me so I'm very happy. I never really think about [awards]. It's very nice to win it, the recognition, I'm really happy with my team-mates, the staff who help me enjoy the game. I hope we can get promoted with the team.”