Everton handed potential transfer boost as Leeds United 'still have to pay for a few sins'

Daniel Farke has suggested that Leeds United's sale of Crysencio Summerville does not mean the club’s financial situation has been completely eased - handing Everton a potential boost amid interest in Willy Gnonto.

Leeds have sold talisman Summerville for £25 million plus add-ons to West Ham United. The Whites' failure to be promoted back to the Premier League also resulted in Archie Gray joining Tottenham Hotspur for £40 million earlier in the summer.

Certainly, Leeds fans will be hoping no more prized assets depart Elland Road for the remainder of the transfer window. Gnonto has again been linked with the Toffees this summer, having failed to move to Goodison Park 12 months ago. The Whites turned down two bids and did not allow the forward to leave despite handing in a transfer request.

Farke's side begin their quest to return to the top flight when their 2024-25 Championship season begins against Portsmouth on Saturday. The Elland Road boss, speaking after his side’s 2-1 pre-season win over Valencia, admitted that Leeds ‘still have to pay for a few sins’ of previous seasons. And that could mean more sales if profit and sustainability regulations need to be met.

Via the Yorkshire Evening Post, Fakre said: "Our situation is also quite clear, obviously after selling a winger, an offensive player like Cree everyone knows we'd like to add a player in a similar position, there's no doubt.

"It's not like right now we receive a full player like Archie Gray or Cree Summerville also lots of money and right now we can spend it. At the moment, we still have to pay for a few sins in the past and make sure we're in line with all the financial rules and this is also the reason why sometimes a club has to take a decision also to sell a player.

"Obviously, when you ask me as a manager you always want to keep your best players and even add a few more top players but we still have the situation that we've done something not in the perfect way in former years and right now have to pay the price. In the last season, we were pretty disciplined and careful with what we spent. We have to be careful and it's an open secret, it's not like we take all the money from a transfer like Cree and can spend it right now. We have pretty limited resources.

“Of course, we can do something but it's not like we can spend the same sum of money for a Cree Summerville. So for that, everyone knows it's not possible to work with unlimited resources, we still have to stay pretty disciplined and it won't be easy to find a player who improves our squad but is also affordable. But this club never does it in the easy way, it would be boring, everyone can do easy, we are special, we have to go our own way and find some good solutions."