Leeds United’s trio of big money summer exits to the Premier League have had varying degrees of success so far.
Archie Gray, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter made Leeds over £100 million in sales during the window as they joined Tottenham, West Ham and Brighton respectively.
Gray’s start to life at Spurs has gone about as expected. Minutes in the Premier League have been hard to come by, but starts in the Carabao Cup and Europa League will keep his development ticking over.
Summerville, meanwhile, has found it the toughest. Paul Merson is unsure whether Summerville will adapt to the Premier League, but he hasn’t been given much of a chance yet, with just one start.
However, Summerville’s close pal at Leeds Rutter has had no such issues. The 22-year-old has started each of Brighton’s last four matches, scoring two goals and providing one assist.
Rutter was the key to Brighton’s 3-2 comeback win over Gray’s Spurs last weekend, scoring the equaliser with a clinical finish, and setting up Danny Welbeck’s winner with a typical Rutter piece of play.
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Bent shares why Rutter has surprised him after Leeds exit
In the aftermath of all three players’ summers exits, the most uncertainty regarding who would make the step up was around Rutter. Danny Murphy labelled Rutter as ‘inconsistent’ after his move and said Leeds did well to get £40 million.
That is because Rutter struggled during his brief time in the Premier League at Leeds 18 months ago, though it has to be said, that was predominantly down to his lack of opportunities.
Sam Allardyce claimed he never picked Rutter in his spell as Leeds boss due to the simple fact he felt he wasn’t good enough.
However, clearly a year in the Championship has been hugely beneficial to Rutter, as he has had no such issues adapting to the Premier League this time around.
Former England striker Darren Bent was speaking on talkSPORT earlier this week about the summer signings who have impressed him most so far, and mentioned Rutter’s name due to the surprise factor of how well he’s done.
He said: “He was one where I wasn’t sure when they signed him. Because if you looked at his numbers, right, on paper, he’s not the most prolific, but you put him into that kind of Brighton team and you go okay, look for instance, last season at Leeds, he got 16 assists.
“16 assists and seven goals, and you go, oo. I like him. I do like Rutter and he scored a nice goal on the comeback against Spurs as well.
“I am not going to say hit yet because I have not seen enough of him because he has come off the bench a few times, but he is on his way to being hit. I have really enjoyed what I have watched.”
Danny Welbeck’s new nickname for former Leeds star Rutter
Rutter’s personality was always going to mean he would settle quickly with his new teammates at Brighton, and that has been reflected by Welbeck’s new nickname for him.
As mentioned, it was Rutter’s assist for Welbeck that earned Brighton’s win over Spurs. It was the type of play Leeds saw him do so many times.
Just as Rutter looked as though he was about to lose the ball, he somehow managed to burst through a couple of challenges, before then scrambling a cross from the byline on a plate for Welbeck.
Speaking post-match, Welbeck said he had a new nickname for Rutter after the Frenchman’s superb assist on Sunday evening: “I nicknamed him velcro as his touch sticks to him – it was a nice assist.”“I nicknamed him Velcro as his touch sticks to him – it was a nice assist.”
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