‘I couldn’t leave a club where people hadn’t seen me play’ – Georginio Rutter eager to prove himself at Leeds United

The price tag weighed heavy on Georginio Rutter (21) as he became Leeds United’s most expensive signing when he made the swap last January from HSG Hoffenheim. 

Bought for €40 million during a season where the English club was mired in a struggle to remain in the Premier League, there was an expectation that the record signing was brought in to provide the impetus for survival. 

However, the French forward instead struggled for game time as he became a victim of the club’s instability, when the manager who had championed his signing, Jesse Marsch, was sacked weeks after Rutter made the move. 

The following two managers, Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce did not share Marsch’s enthusiasm for the young Frenchman leaving many baffled over what the club had first seen in Rutter to make him their record transfer. 

Rutter came to be written off as a symptom of the state of the club, an illustration of the fundamental mismanagement that had allowed it to slide into a relegation battle. 

Relegation is never a positive outcome, especially dropping out of a league as rich as the Premier League, but it did offer Leeds and Rutter an opportunity for a reset over the summer. 

It looked from the outside as if Rutter’s reset would come in the shape of a transfer away from Leeds. There were interested parties last summer, with Lyon and Borussia Dortmund, reportedly keen on transplanting the forward. 

Despite their efforts, Rutter was notably less willing to leave a place where he had not yet shown his talent, speaking to L’Équipe , the player reflected that ‘ I couldn’t leave a club where people hadn’t seen me play, I kept telling myself: “They haven’t seen me play!” ’

And with Leeds, turning to the experienced and progressive Daniel Farke