Everything you need to know

Georginio Rutter joins Leeds United: Everything we know about Jesse Marsch’s new striker’s arrival 

|
Image for Georginio Rutter joins Leeds United: Everything we know about Jesse Marsch’s new striker’s arrival 

Leeds United completed the signing of Georginio Rutter at the weekend, breaking the club’s transfer record to bring him from Hoffenheim.

The Whites have been very busy in the January window already, making two key signings and aiming to complete more before the end of the month.

After bringing in Max Wöber for £10million, Leeds pressed on with their pursuit of a new striker signing, and found their man in the shape of Georginio Rutter.

The striker confirmed his Elland Road arrival at the end of last week after the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on the Friday prior.

Here, we look at everything that we know about the new signing in the doors at LS11…

How much did he cost?

Rutter arrived at Leeds on a club-record deal, costing the club a reported up-front fee of £24.8million rising up to as much as £35.5million with add-ons.

What length is his contract?

Rutter penned a five-and-a-half-year contract with the club, that will keep him at the club until the summer of 2028.

Are you happy with the signing of Rutter?

Yes

Yes

No

No

What type of player is he?

Predominantly a striker, the 20-year-old is by no means the finished article at still a tender age, but his 64 Hoffenheim appearances suggest a player more than capable of a key role.

Both-footed, Rutter has been a real threat in the Bundesliga with his immense dribbling ability and physical presence too, scoring 10 goals and registering six assists since the start of last season.

His goal tally might not be something to get many fans excited, but the overall quality of his game certainly will.

Has Marsch reacted to the signing?

Marsch commented on the young Frenchman during his pre-Cardiff press conference, where he stated via the YEP:

“Obviously, everything that we’re trying to do here, we’re looking more what’s important for the long term project. Where we are in the moment, there’s obviously a lot of thinking from the outside and a lot of pressure from different situations that every result means a lot. Obviously that’s always the case. I would say more that we identified Georginio. I’ve known him for a while. He is someone even I watched when I was at Leipzig.

“It’s a guy who I think is an explosive footballer, a talented player with a lot of potential and when we have done our homework we have also learned and we found this out relatively quickly what a good person he is, what a hard worker he is, how much he wants to try to achieve for himself. And then, when you coach players for Germany, that have been in Germany, there’s a real high level of tactical education and I sat down with Georginio yesterday and we talked a lot about what we tried to do and our playing model and what our philosophies are and what our strategies and vocabulary and he already was very up to speed and understands most of it.

“It was a really intelligent football conversation and one that gives me real hope that he can acclimate quickly. So that, in the end, all of those factors were why he was the player that we fought after.

On his two-footedness, Marsch continued:

“I think he has flexibility. You know, one of the interesting things is when we did even research on him, right foot versus left foot.

“When you look at most players, they’re very right or left foot dominant, obviously, like someone who’s both footed wind up being somewhere between 20 and 25 per cent on their weak foot, that’s how much they touch and move with the ball on that foot. Georginio is 50-50, he is maybe the most two footed player that I’ve ever seen. And he’s obviously strong with his left but his ability to drive in both directions, his ability in one of the one situations, his ability to run in transition, his fitness levels, speed, quickness, intelligence, there’s a lot of big upside and potential with him.

“I think we can use him as a striker, I think we can use him as a wide player, I think we can use him as a second striker so I think there’s a lot of flexibility. We talked about that yesterday and he’s very open to helping the team in whatever way is necessary and I think he can acclimate quickly.”

Quiz: Can you remember Leeds United’s last 15 results v Brentford ahead of Premier League clash?

1 of 15

May 2022, Gtech Community Stadium?

Share this article

Leeds United season ticket holder since 2013/14, currently situated in the middle of the FA5 noise. From Pablo Hernandez to 5-1 drubbings, I've seen it all at Elland Road.