Brighton & Hove Albion have activated a £40million release clause in the contract of Leeds United forward Georginio Rutter.
It is now up to the 22-year-old to decide whether or not to proceed with the proposed transfer.
Leeds previously turned down bids of £29m and £35m before Brighton met the terms of Rutter’s exit mechanism on Wednesday.
The France Under-21 international’s deal Elland Road runs until 2028 but he will have to choose between continuing there or accepting a chance to play Premier League football again.
Despite the situation unfolding ahead of Leeds’ Carabao Cup meeting with Middlesbrough, Rutter made himself available for selection and entered as a second-half substitute in the 3-0 loss.
He is said to have behaved in an exemplary manner throughout and is regarded as an extremely popular figure in the Leeds squad.
Rutter joined Leeds from Hoffenheim in January 2023 for a club record fee that could rise to £35million. He made 11 Premier League appearances during the second half of the 2022-23 campaign as Leeds were relegated to the second tier.
The forward provided seven goals and 15 assists in 47 Championship appearances last season, but Leeds missed out on promotion following defeat to Southampton in the play-off final.
Rutter has featured twice for Leeds this season as the club have begun the campaign with a late draw against Portsmouth in the Championship on Saturday and a Carabao Cup first-round defeat to Middlesbrough on Wednesday evening.
Leeds have already seen Archie Gray and Crysencio Summerville, key players for Daniel Farke last season, depart this summer, with the former joining Tottenham Hotspur and the latter moving to West Ham United.
Brighton, meanwhile, begin the 2024-25 campaign under new head coach Fabian Hurzeler against Everton on Saturday. They completed the signing of Brajan Gruda from Mainz on Wednesday, their sixth addition of the summer window.
Leeds would risk losing third prized asset with Rutter sale
Analysis from The Athletic’s Leeds correspondent Nancy Froston
This could be a huge blow to Leeds’s promotion hopes. Along with Cryscencio Summerville and Archie Gray, Rutter was one of Leeds’s prized assets heading into this season. Leeds are now at risk of losing all three.
Rutter impressed in pre-season and was a bright spark in the opening day draw with Portsmouth. He’s a crucial source of creativity in attack for Leeds and looked set to become the main man under Farke — much like Summerville last season.
Leeds will now need to move quickly to add players after losing another key part of their team. Farke had already said he wanted a central midfielder, a left-back and a winger to replace Summerville. If Rutter does leave, this would add further pressure to get deals done sooner rather than later.
This would be Leeds’s second £40million-plus sale of the summer and stands in contrast to what has been spent — even if Farke has spoken regularly about Leeds’s need to recoup money to pay for the mistakes of the past.
(George Wood/Getty Images)
