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Fulham have joined the race to sign Crysencio Summerville from West Ham. The winger is expected to move this summer and is attracting interest from a host of Premier League clubs.
Chelsea and Manchester United have been monitoring Summerville, who is likely to leave West Ham following their relegation from the Premier League, but it remains to be seen whether the Netherlands international earns a move to one of the top flight’s leading sides.
Sources have suggested a more realistic outcome could be that the firmest interest in the 24-year-old comes from an ambitious team from outside the elite. Fulham need to boost their wide options after losing Harry Wilson, who is poised to join Leeds on a free transfer, and have added Summerville to their shortlist. It is unclear if Fulham, who are expected to appoint Álvaro Arbeloa as their new manager, trigger an option to make Samuel Chukwueze’s loan from Milan permanent.
Summerville impressed for the Netherlands at the World Cup, scoring two goals in four games, although he failed to convert the decisive kick when Ronald Koeman’s side lost on penalties to Morocco in the last 32. The former Leeds winger was also one of West Ham’s best players last season. He surged after Christmas, scoring seven goals in 10 games to lift West Ham’s hopes of avoiding the drop.
However, doubts remain over Summerville’s consistency and physicality at the highest level. The former Leeds winger initially struggled for fitness after joining West Ham in the summer of 2024. He missed much of the 2024-25 season with a hamstring injury and missed a chunk of last season with a calf problem.
West Ham accept that they have little chance of keeping Summerville. They have already raised funds by selling Mateus Fernandes to Tottenham for £85m. The club’s aim is to ensure that Nuno Espírito Santo is left with a team capable of winning promotion at the first time of asking. It is hoped that bringing in money for Fernandes and Summerville will mean they are not under financial pressure to sell Jarrod Bowen. However, there is interest from a host of Premier League sides in West Ham’s captain.
Across London, Chelsea will have been interested to read Real Madrid’s statement about their lack of interest in signing Enzo Fernández. The Argentinian midfielder, who was dropped by Chelsea last season for telling the media he would like to live in Madrid, has been linked with a £120m move away from Stamford Bridge this summer.
However, Real issued a statement denying their interest. It read: “In light of the reports and statements that have appeared in recent days regarding an alleged interest from Real Madrid in the player Enzo Fernández, the club wishes to state that it has not made any effort, either direct or indirect, to sign the aforementioned player and, likewise, has no intention of undertaking such an operation.”
One midfielder who will not be heading to Chelsea is Granit Xhaka, with the 33-year-old staying put at Sunderland following talks with senior figures at the Stadium of Light this week.
Xhaka, currently captaining Switzerland at the World Cup, had appeared keen on a move to Chelsea and a reunion with his former manager at Bayer Leverkusen, Xabi Alonso, but Sunderland rejected an £8m bid from the London club last week.
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Chelsea were told that the midfielder was not for sale “at any price” and they appeared disinclined to test the resolve of Sunderland’s hierarchy with a significantly increased bid for the player who arrived on Wearside from Leverkusen in a deal potentially worth £17.5m last summer.
After Sunderland secured a seventh-placed finish – and Europa League qualification – thanks to a home victory against Chelsea in May, Xhaka, the influential and hugely inspirational captain of Regis Le Bris’s side, grabbed a microphone and told his adoring Wearside public: “This is just the beginning; we want more.”
Yet within weeks, his head appeared to have been turned by overtures from Alonso, the manager who had led Leverkusen to the Bundesliga title. Sunderland fans feared an exit was inevitable but Xhaka is now understood to have fully re-committed to Le Bris’s project and to be energised by the prospect of European football.
