Crysencio Summerville has broken a long silence with a message to Leeds and followed it up with a cryptic West Ham update too.
Leeds United fans have missed Crysencio Summerville since he left for West Ham last summer.
Hammers supporters know how they feel as they rue the fact the exciting Dutchman has been out for all bar 45 minutes of Graham Potter’s tenure so far.
In reality Leeds didn’t actually miss Summerville on the pitch quite as much as most expected they would.
After missing out on promotion back to the Premier League in last year’s play-off final, Leeds were forced to sell Summerville.
When the Hammers signed the man officially crowned the best player in the Championship for £26m, even Leeds boss Daniel Farke admitted Summerville would be impossible to replace like-for-like.
Hammers star Summerville ends lengthy silence
Summerville excited West Ham fans in brief cameos yet Julen Lopetegui used him far too sparingly for their liking.
His situation even saw Summerville linked with a potential loan return to Leeds in the January window with a view to re-signing for the Elland Road club if they secured promotion back to the Premier League.
When Lopetegui was sacked and Potter came in that month, though, he quickly picked out Summerville as a key player.
Summerville revealed Potter told him he can be the Premier League’s best left-sided attacker under him.
While Hammers fans – and undoubtedly Potter too – have been cursing their luck at losing Summerville for the last three months and counting, his old club Leeds have indeed made it back to the big time.
Now Summerville has sent a message to Leeds and followed it with a cryptic West Ham update.
Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images
After a 6-0 win over Stoke at the weekend, Leeds looked all but home and hosed for automatic promotion.
But second-placed Burnley’s win over third-placed Sheffield United made it official on Easter Monday.
So Leeds will be back in the Premier League to face West Ham again next season.
And the Hammers may have to wait that long until they see Summerville again too.
He was the best player on the pitch as West Ham started Potter’s reign in style by taking a first half lead at Aston Villa in the FA Cup in January.
But he went off injured at half-time and has not been seen in the claret and blue since.
Summerville’s substitution was initially described as “precautionary” by Potter.
Summerville sends message to Leeds
Sure enough a couple of weeks later the attacker was back training, much to the delight of the Hammers faithful.
There was a devastating setback, though, and Potter revealed Summerville would be out until at least April.
Terrible news then leaked from inside West Ham, claiming Summerville could even be out into next season.
The source claimed the uncertainty over the winger was a result of Summerville refusing to have surgery on the issue.
Spiky Potter wasn’t happy about the Summerville leak.
Fans were shocked by the news and West Ham had to clarify the Summerville remarks after they sparked an angry backlash from supporters who felt he was being thrown under the bus for choosing to heal naturally.
The unusual situation has led to idle speculation that Summerville may be unhappy at the club and doesn’t want to risk another setback in a bid to push for a summer move.
Seeing Leeds get promoted has clearly put a spring back in Summerville’s step, though.
Photo by Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
He posted a picture of Leeds’ squad which is emblazoned with the words ‘We are Premier League’ on his Instagram Stories and captioned it MOT alongside starry eyed and flame emojis.
MOT represents Leeds’ ‘Marching On Together’ chant.
But when will Summerville be marching back onto the pitch for West Ham?
It is the first question Potter is asked each week at press conferences.
But Summerville is still not back in full training and it now looks like he could indeed miss the rest of the season as a result.
Summerville’s cryptic West Ham update
The winger is a very religious person.
And his next post could go some way to cryptically explaining the thinking behind his big decision to heal naturally in his West Ham comeback.
“God’s timing, not mine,” Summerville posted.
“God’s will, not mine.
“God’s plan, not mine.
“God’s glory not mine.”
Summerville clearly believes what is meant to be, is meant to be.
There has been no question over his mentality, attitude or professionalism so the Hammers just have to hope the path he has taken for his comeback is ultimately the right one.
The good news for the Hammers is that the last time the 23-year-old spoke, Summerville stated he wants to become a West Ham legend.