After Archie Gray, Fabrizio Romano drops new update on ‘open race’ to sign Leeds United player

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Leeds United now believe they are in a strong position to keep some of their other key players after the sale of Archie Gray.

Gray completed a £40 million move to Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday morning as he became Leeds‘ first significant sale of the summer.

It was always common knowledge after the play-off final that a big money exit was going to be needed in order to remain compliant with PSR. Due to a lack of formal interest in other players, Gray was the one who had to go.

Reports now suggest the 18-year-old’s exit, coupled with the lucrative sponsorship agreed with Red Bull, has significantly eased any lingering financial issues.

But that isn’t going to deter clubs from making offers for other players, with a £30 million bid from Brighton for Georginio Rutter turned down by Leeds just a matter of hours after Gray’s move.

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Romano shares new update on Summerville amid PSG interest

Rutter, Crysencio Summerville, Willy Gnonto, Glen Kamara and Illan Meslier have all been linked with clubs from across Europe’s top five leagues recently.

It has even been suggested in France that Kamara has already agreed personal terms with Rennes, while Meslier would be open to a switch to Marseille.

Ligue 1 seems to be the division in which clubs are taking a real liking to Leeds players, with PSG also said to be in the mix to sign Summerville.

However, writing in his latest daily briefing, Fabrizio Romano has somewhat put to bed rumours of a move to PSG for Summerville, suggesting he only very briefly came up in talks due to sharing the same agent as Lutsharel Geertruida, who is a concrete target of the French club.

He said: “My understanding is that the situation is: Summerville shares the same agents as Feyenoord defender Lutsharel Geertruida.

“PSG are in talks with Geertruida on personal terms, so Summerville was mentioned during talks but there’s still no negotiation ongoing between the clubs or the player’s agents. It’s an open race with Brighton and more clubs interested.”

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What is Leeds’ stance on Summerville?

Prior to Gray’s exit, Leeds had actually been more open to the sale of Summerville than the 18-year-old, until it became clear he was not attracting the necessary interest.

Now, however, that appears to have changed. Leeds believe they are in a strong position to keep him and are only likely to listen to offers if he makes it clear he wants to go.

It was reported back in May that Summerville will not look to force through an exit this summer, and it would be fair to say he has been front and centre of Leeds’ pre-season social media content.

It will be interesting to see if Summerville changes that stance as the summer progresses.