Ex-Leeds United man's 'cynical' £29m transfer verdict amid Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter 'missing' claim

David Prutton admits it is ‘a bit cynical’ to view Leeds United’s summer exits through a financial lens but insists the club did well to get huge fees for players who ‘went missing’ on occasion.

Leeds sold arguably their three most exciting players in Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter, with the trio moving up to the Premier League after failing to get there via promotion with Daniel Farke’s side. The latter pair registered 52 goal contributions between them and were at the heart of just about every attacking move, but an over-reliance often proved problematic, particularly during the latter weeks of the season.

But while the aforementioned exits stung supporters, Elland Road recruitment chiefs have replaced them with talent across the pitch and so Farke’s squad offers more balance and quality throughout. And Prutton believes his former side have come out of the window in a strong position.

“The players they’ve brought in of course to replace, very sizeable figures for them,” Prutton told the Essential EFL podcast. “You look at what Summerville brought to the side, and Rutter, I think it was over 50 goal involvements collectively but you made a profit on both, and that sounds a bit cynical and a bit kind of financially biassed.

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“But over £20million (profit) on Summerville and you made £5million on Rutter who, yes they were very good players in the Championship, still didn’t do what they were there for which was to get Leeds promoted. Again that maybe sounds overly harsh. But take the play-off final, sometimes the big games those players went missing, so hopefully the collective now is chemically more balanced.”

Leeds have certainly enjoyed a better start to the season compared to a year ago, despite early concerns. Farke’s side are unbeaten in four league games, with two straight wins before the international break pulling them into fourth-place ahead of Saturday’s visit of Burnley to Elland Road.

And with only one summer signing left to make a debut - full-back Isaac Schmidt - Leeds’ recruitment looks to have proven successful at this early stage. On-loan Tottenham Hotspur winger Manor Solomon grabbed an assist for Mateo Joseph as part of an impressive first appearance in the 2-0 win over Hull City, while Largie Ramazani and Ao Tanaka both looked steady off the bench.

Jayden Bogle and Joe Rothwell were both present for much of pre-season and look more than capable of contributing to a Championship promotion push, even if the former endured a shaky start to life in LS11. Joe Rodon also had to battle early hiccups after making his loan from Spurs permanent, but the Welshman has played his part in three straight clean sheets and is building an excellent relationship with Pascal Struijk.