What a difference a year has made for Georginio Rutter at Leeds United.
On March 4 last year, the Frenchman, 21, walked out at Stamford Bridge in what would be his first and only Premier League start for the club against Chelsea.
Carrying the weight of his club-record £35.5million ($45.2m) price tag after arriving from Bundesliga outfit Hoffenheim in January, it looked as if Rutter was the wrong signing at the wrong time. Leeds had looked at a profile of player more like Coventry City striker Viktor Gyokeres, who was neither cheap nor truly for sale as Mark Robins’ side pushed for the Championship play-offs, but instead signed Rutter to bolster Jesse Marsch’s attack in a bid to stay up.
His appearances were fleeting, with just 264 minutes in total in the league, almost all from the bench, as Leeds went from Marsch to Javi Gracia to Sam Allardyce in charge in a matter of weeks.
Rutter was not helped by routine put-downs by veteran manager Allardyce. “As a youngster and in the situation we’re in, it’s a next-season scenario for him,” Allardyce said of Rutter before a meeting with West Ham United. “When you’re young and you come to the Premier League for the first time, you’ve got to settle in. Next season would be the big test for him. The Premier League demands much more than ability.”
The next-season scenario, as it turns out, has worked pretty well for Rutter, who has been a key figure in Leeds’ efforts to return to the Premier League under Daniel Farke. He might not be a prolific goalscorer, but he is the next best thing: a prolific assister and playmaker.
Rutter’s 17 league assists — 18 in all competitions — have been essential to Leeds’ rise to the top of the second tier. His connection with Crysencio Summerville has been particularly pleasing and his rate of assists (0.43 per game) puts him in the top eight players across England’s top four divisions — as shown in the graphic below — but what makes Rutter stand out is the variety of chances he creates.
Playing in a more withdrawn role than he was originally signed for has paid off for Rutter, who had the chance to leave Leeds in the summer when Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund enquired after him. His commitment to stay and impress at Elland Road, plus Leeds’ feeling that selling him at a loss would not have made sense within the confines of profit and sustainability regulations, has proven to be a good choice for all parties.
With some nurturing under Farke, Rutter has become one of the most eye-catching players in the Championship. His shielding and turns away from defenders while finding the most effective through ball has been fruitful.
The map below shows where Rutter has created his chances in 2023-24. He is most dangerous in central areas just outside the box, where he has created 32 per cent of his chances, but he has contributed cutbacks, passes into channels and neat touches in the penalty area, too.
February’s crucial 3-1 win over Leicester City saw Rutter assist two goals — the only time he has assisted twice in the same league game this season — when he darted into the box and Connor Roberts latched onto his deflected shot for Leeds’ first goal. The second was typical of the area he has occupied behind one of Patrick Bamford, Joel Piroe or Mateo Joseph this season, with a top-of-the-box lay-off to Archie Gray, who put Leeds ahead.
Across Rutter’s 37 league appearances this term, he has been a consistent starter and has played 90 minutes 22 times, a stark contrast to his start to life as a Leeds player. The spread of chance-creating locations shown above reflects his willingness and vision when in possession. He ranks 20th in England’s top four leagues for touches in the attacking third and his business is further reflected in the 106 shots he has taken.
Those number of shots reflect where he is still wasteful in his finishing — only Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin is under-performing his non-penalty expected goals figure by more across the top four leagues in England.
Rutter has scored six league goals, but the quality of his chances suggests the average player should score 11.4 goals from those situations. He spent the majority of the first half of the season as the lone striker, but since the turn of the year, he has been playing in the hole behind Bamford.
The alarm for fans during the international break when Leeds announced that he had withdrawn from France’s under-21s squad to have surgery on a hernia shows his importance to Farke’s team. Rutter had been playing with the hernia for weeks and missed the FA Cup fifth-round defeat to Chelsea in February, but the good news is that he is expected to be back in contention for Leeds’ next league game against Watford on Good Friday (March 29).
As a point of comparison, Pascal Struijk missed just one match in November against Plymouth Argyle after undergoing a hernia operation and then played the next eight matches before suffering the groin injury that could rule him out for the rest of the season.
In a way, Allardyce was right — it has been a next-season scenario for Rutter — but it is credit to the player that he has shown he is not just a player with ability caught in Premier League drift. He is a game-changer capable of helping Leeds restore their top-flight status.
(Top photo: Ed Sykes/Getty Images)
