£28m Leeds United exit facing major upheaval amid two-week ultimatum and new manager search
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Crysencio Summerville could soon be working under new management with reports Julen Lopetegui is clinging on to his West Ham United job.
Lopetegui has overseen a disappointing start to the season at West Ham who sit 14th, five points above the relegation zone, following a run of just two wins in their last nine Premier League games. The Hammers spent around £120million over the summer - £28m of which went towards Summerville - and were widely tipped to have enjoyed one of top-flight’s most promising windows, but performances have been well below expectations.
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Hide AdAnd the Guardian now claim the Spaniard has two games to save his job, with the prospect of his exit this month growing in seriousness. West Ham travel to eighth-placed Newcastle United on Monday night before returning home to face title-challenging Arsenal.
The report adds that consecutive defeats ‘are likely to have serious ramifications’ for Lopetegui, with even a heavy defeat at St James’ Park possibly forcing decisions to be made. Hope he can turn this season around is fading among those in charge at the London Stadium, who hoped the 58-year-old’s appointment would signal a new era of progress for the club, who had stagnated under David Moyes.
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Summerville was one of three players to move to the Premier League without Leeds United after their failure to achieve promotion, alongside Archie Gray and Georginio Rutter. The Dutch winger was the Championship’s standout player last season, registering 20 goals and nine assists on his way to being crowned the second-tier’s player of the season.
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Hide AdBut the regular football he enjoyed in West Yorkshire has not been forthcoming down south. Competition for places is obviously more fierce and the 23-year-old had to wait until the end of September for his first start. He has been in and out of the team since, starting just three Premier League games and scoring once - against Leeds’ fierce rivals Manchester United.
Such is the level of pressure on Lopetegui that West Ham spent the November international break assessing potential successors. The Guardian report on interest in former Borussia Dortmund boss Edin Terzic, ex-Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand, Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeness and Roger Schmidt, formerly of Benfica.
The arrival of a new manager could go one of two ways for Summerville, with the obvious hope being more consistent minutes. But the Dutchman is competing for minutes with the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen in the attacking spots.
Lopetegui’s exit would mean Summerville no longer has the man who signed him in the dugout, with no guarantee an incoming head coach holds the winger in particularly high regard. But the aforementioned star players are not performing, and Leeds’ former winger has regularly made a positive impact when introduced, enough at least for a significant portion of fans to call for him to start.