Daniel Farke has spoken publicly about Georginio Rutter in Thursday’s press conference ahead of the trip to West Brom on Saturday, and he was asked about the clause in Rutter’s Leeds United contract.
Rutter is set for a move to Brighton and Farke says he has said his goodbyes to the team, with a deal expected to be confirmed in the next 24-48 hours. Rutter will set Brighton back a huge fee of £40m.
The French attacker will be the club’s eighth permanent sale of the summer after Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville, Glen Kamara, Diego Llorente, Marc Roca, Charlie Cresswell and Kris Klaesson have all left.
Rutter is set for a move to Brighton and a deal is expected to go through before Saturday’s clash against Carloe Corberan’s Baggies. It leaves Leeds with plenty of work to do in the next fortnight this summer.
Farke responds when asked if he knew about Rutter clause
The frustration from many Leeds supporters is that the club allowed Rutter to have a clause in his deal that allowed him to go, if clubs bid that much. The Athletic said Brighton had bid £29m and then £35m.
Both were rejected, before Brighton activated the release clause of £40m. Asked by Adam Pope in the latest press conference on LUTV, Farke said he did not know about Rutter’s clause until after he joined.
“I wasn’t aware when I signed a year ago but when I looked into the contract and the details and what could happen, I was aware 12 months ago. You could predict someone might activate the release clause.
“It is a proper sum of money. For that, we were all hoping we wouldn’t have to speak this clause – we are not motivated by having the biggest bank account. You have to stick by what you’ve signed in the past.”
What Brighton’s manager has said about a move to sign Rutter
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler kept his cards close to his chest when asked if the Seagulls would be signing Rutter. He said that he wanted to sign players that ticked all the boxes and improve his side.
But Farke’s comments have disbanded Hurzeler’s response, confirming that Rutter will leave Leeds in the next 24-48 hours. Certainly, Rutter has played his last game for Leeds. A shame, it was a 3-0 defeat.
Plenty of work to do for Farke and Leeds in the next two weeks with plenty of signings required in order to replace Rutter, Gray, Summerville and Kamara as well as a left-back. Leeds are running out of time.
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