On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me… Crysencio and his xG.
Or the pieces of the xG being blown to pieces by Crysencio Summerville, because, like many things in the Championship, the expected goals metric is trailing behind him.
His goal against Birmingham City on New Year’s Day took him to 12 in the league — another step forward in Summerville’s coming-of-age season. Match by match, the question is there to be answered: is there a more influential player at Leeds United? And beyond Elland Road, are there many better ones in the whole Championship?
Until this sustained purple patch, Summerville had burned slowly on the development front at Leeds, with little moments in the sun last season but nothing like the relentless impact he has offered in attack since August.
The club believed he had quality that would ooze from him if given enough time, and they resisted a chance to sign Ryan Kent from Scottish side Rangers in 2021 to promote a then 20-year-old Summerville to the first-team fold while Marcelo Bielsa was head coach.
Summerville, who is Dutch, found the language barrier and a lack of game time challenging under Bielsa following a 2020 move from Feyenoord. What followed, with the Argentinian’s successor Jesse Marsch in the dugout, was an increase in minutes but a plunge towards eventual relegation. But then in August, with the club back in the EFL, Summerville was properly cut loose for the first time under new manager Daniel Farke, starting regularly, finding his mojo and driving Leeds on.
The smart money was on Joel Piroe scoring the most goals for Farke’s side in 2023-24 on the basis of his track record over the past two years in this division with Swansea City — and he has found the net a none-too-shabby nine times following his summer move from the Welsh side — but countryman Summerville went into doubles figures on December 16, and is one of only six Championship footballers to reach that milestone this season.
That his finishing has been exemplary and his chances difficult is shown by the fact he is massively exceeding a personal xG number of 8.14. There is almost nobody Farke can trust to finish more.
On Monday, at home against Birmingham, Farke was looking for his players to regroup and redouble their performances after back-to-back post-Christmas losses at Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion. Summerville duly scored the final goal in a 3-0 victory, from the sort of opportunity he has started to convert in his sleep — opening his body up after receiving a pass from Junior Firpo and slotting the ball into the far corner.
Leeds have never once regretted the decision to fend off an approach for the 22-year-old from top-flight Burnley just as last year’s summer transfer window was closing and tactically they are leaning on him more this season than anyone expected, a creative outlet with major responsibility.
His run of goals started against visitors Cardiff City on the opening weekend, with what might have been his most difficult chance — and this is a winger who has hardly been served with countless sitters. It required a back-to-goal half-volley in the 95th minute, with Leeds 2-1 down and stewing in the frustration of a difficult summer.
Summerville pulling something from the bag, pivoting to hook the ball inside the left-hand post, bodies all over the place after a blocked shot from Luis Sinisterra, was a hint at how influential he would be, and how dangerous he was about to become.
That equaliser to secure a draw relied on instinct and a willingness to try his luck as much as anything but the crucial thing for Farke on the attacking front this season has been the levels of understanding which have developed among his preferred front four.
Time and again, Georginio Rutter pops up in the moves leading to Summerville’s goals, with no fewer than five of his nine assists being for the Dutchman.
Summerville’s second of the season, in a 1-0 win at home against Queens Park Rangers on October 4, was indicative of how he thinks: Leeds come up with the ball, often in turnover situations, and he gets on the move immediately, with more pace than most defenders he faces and a habit of getting into the perfect positions to take a pass and shoot before anyone can recover.
Summerville’s consistency at close range is very good, with 67 per cent of his shots on target, but he poses a threat from distance too.
With a neat touch and composure in front of goal, the key for him is space. At Carrow Road on October 21, Norwich City allowed Summerville to have some of it on the edge of their box as they defended a short corner and he took advantage, knocking a 20-yard effort in off the post.
Norwich were then punished just as ruthlessly when they left him free inside Leeds’ half later in the game, succumbing to a lethal counter-attack and the decisive goal in a 3-2 away win. In those transitional moments, he is like a stretched elastic band, waiting to be pinged.
Rutter comes up with possession, Summerville sprints forward in anticipation of a pass and a huge gap in front of him lets him carry the ball to the edge of the penalty area, where he slots a low finish in…
Summerville said recently that in the early stages of his career, there were coaches who did not warm to him or like his attitude. Leeds have had moments where they questioned him too, and their intention when last season resulted in relegation was to sell him before the new one started. But his behaviour has been no issue under Farke, on or off the pitch.
His form in the Championship has impacted strongly on his confidence, making opposition sides wary of him. The first of his two goals in a 4-1 rout of Huddersfield Town on October 28 is demonstrative of how, from an initial position where the opposition have ample cover, his trickery, footwork and low centre of gravity tempt them into backing up until they give him the opportunity to shoot.
Not long after, lacking the numbers to cover as Rutter bursts down the left, Huddersfield are helpless to contain Summerville, who has moved infield, spotted another gap to burst into and sensed a second goal coming his way. He makes no mistake when Rutter tees him up.
On occasions, his swagger lends itself to mind games, such as during a 1-1 away draw against Rotherham United on November 24.
Summerville told Leeds’ official podcast how he was goading Lee Peltier during that fixture, having found a way through early in the game.
Peltier was left standing when a quick exchange between Glen Kamara and Rutter set Summerville free for another sweet finish. Peltier subsequently tried to get stuck into Summerville, who took umbrage at some heavy challenges.
“The right-back was annoying me,” Summerville said. “One time I was running and left him behind. I walked back and said, ‘You can’t keep up with me. It’s alright, Bro’.’ I was in his head.”
A large number of Summerville’s efforts on goal follow the same routine: quick passes in the final third and one killer ball putting him through and inviting his quality to do the rest.
But even the easiest of his finishes, a close-range header against Middlesbrough on December 2, relied on two clever changes of movement to bend defender Anfernee Dijksteel out of shape. A shift towards the back post and then a switch in reverse gave him a clean bite at a cross from Archie Gray, with goalkeeper Seny Dieng unable to intervene.
As the flashes of class mount up, a sure sign of Summerville’s growing reputation is the fact that decisive touches from him are coming to be expected.
This next effort, away against Blackburn Rovers on December 9, was a difficult opportunity, or more difficult than it was made to look. Summerville does what he loves to do — hanging on the last shoulder, ready to let his pace burn — until a perfect pass comes from Gray. The chip at the end of the attack is sublime, and kills the contest stone dead.
And likewise at home to Coventry City a week later, during what has become a trademark Leeds assault.
Coventry manager Mark Robins had warned his players about scenarios like it — the trouble Leeds tend to cause in the pocket outside the penalty area — but admitted that movement from there was tough to manage.
As soon as Ethan Ampadu plays a ball to the feet of Rutter, Summerville knows he will turn and attempt to slide a pass through Coventry’s defence. It arrives on cue, it is nicely weighted and Summerville gets his body shape right to allow him to cushion a shot inside the far post.
That goal against Coventry was number 10 for his league season and as Leeds ran into the Christmas period, it almost went without saying that Summerville would be somewhere in the middle of what came next.
His penalty in a 4-0 Elland Road rout of Ipswich Town on December 23 was a simple opportunity to move on to 11 goals but even that was instructive: the fact that Farke had allocated spot-kick duty to both Summerville and Piroe. It was their call, ultimately, to decide who fancied it in the heat of the moment if the question arose. It was Summerville who stepped up, confidence flowing, and stuck it away.
And then came Birmingham, who succumbed to Summerville’s modus operandi, the art of loitering, drifting, progressing play and popping up at the right moment in a dangerous position.
His first goal of 2024 was clinical rather than eye-catching but showed the traits of a natural finisher, with the poise to control a Firpo pass, take his time with the shot and place it into the corner accurately. Just three players in the Championship have more goals than him this season.
The breakdown of his clutch of finishes is without even touching on six assists, equating to 18 goal contributions after 23 appearances.
Farke is not a fan of individual awards, and certainly not kept up at night by the thought of who is winning the 2023-24 Championship’s Golden Boot. But at the season’s halfway stage, there is no firmer claim to the player of the year award at Elland Road currently than Summerville’s. And few across the second division as a whole which are stronger either.
