Leeds United have requested that West Ham keep the transfer fee paid for Crysencio Summerville “strictly confidential”, according to Sean Whetstone.
The Hammers-focused journalist, who is the news editor at 6foot2 and writes on Claret & Hugh, reported via his West Ham Football X account on Saturday night (3 August) that the Irons have decided they are going to honour that request.
After the deal was officially announced by both clubs on Saturday, BBC Sport reported Summerville, 22, cost West Ham £25million plus add-ons.
Leeds United make strange request to West Ham
This is bizarre.
Leeds fans haven’t been too happy about Summerville leaving Elland Road mainly because they thought their club would get a lot more money for the Championship’s player of the season.
It seems the Whites have taken an extra measure to protect the actual cost of the transfer by almost swearing West Ham to secrecy over the real meat and bones of the deal.
But what’s weird is that the fee is being widely reported everywhere and clubs usually do their “undisclosed fee” nonsense.
Clubs are becoming increasingly separate from the media outside of their own four walls.
You see it time and time again how the local journalists struggle to get the huge scoops about transfers that national journalists or a well-known bloke in Italy break on a daily basis.
They don’t want details getting out so they do everything they can to stop it, which is pointless because there’s always someone external of the club that knows the details who’s going to talk to someone else.
This seems like a bit of a shady cover-up to be honest.