Since becoming Leeds’ director of football in 2017, Victor Orta has signed a deluge of youth players.
In fact, during his first summer transfer window, the Spaniard flooded the Whites’ youth teams with foreign teenagers who, quite frankly, never amounted to much.
Unperturbed by his high-failure rate in this regard, Orta has continued to invest in youth players every single summer since.
And for every Pascal Struijk – who joined Leeds in January of 2018 as an 18-year-old – there’s literally dozens more who never got anywhere near the first team at Elland Road.
But Crysencio Summerville, who moved to West Yorkshire in the summer of 2020, might well go on to become the best bargain that Orta has found.
Absolute steal
According to The Sun, Summerville set United back just £1.3 million when they signed him from Feyenoord more than a year ago.
But based on footage from today, the 19-year-old could be worth far more than that in the near future.
Summerville has already caught the eye of Marcelo Bielsa, who gave him a senior Premier League debut against Newcastle United this season.
And it’s because, as demonstrated today, he is a frightening talent.
Leeds’ Under-23 side took on Sunderland this afternoon and the Dutch attacker scored the goal of the game, dancing around a number of opposition players before finding the top corner from outside the box.
Some cynics will point out that it’s only reserve football – and they’re right.
But by the same token, Summerville is also only 19 years of age and the fact Bielsa has already tried him in the Premier League is testament to his belief in the player.
It’s still so early in his career, but the signs are unequivocally bright and based on what we’ve seen so far, this could go down as Orta’s finest signing – period.
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