Crysencio Summerville has given supporters a good laugh with his hilarious blunder about Leeds and West Ham fans ahead of his return to Elland Road.
Things have not quite gone to plan for Crysencio Summerville or West Ham since he left Leeds United for east London in a £26m deal last summer.
The Hammers reportedly beat the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea to sign Summerville from a reluctant Leeds last summer.
The flying Dutchman revealed he chose West Ham because he felt it was the best next step for his hugely promising career.
Having been named Championship Player of the Year by a landslide, Leeds fans expected to get top dollar for Summerville when they failed to win promotion back to the Premier League.
Summerville West Ham’s key man on return to face Leeds
But Summerville had a unique £25m release clause in his Leeds contract which meant it could be triggered if a club paid that amount in one transaction.
West Ham actually paid a £1m premium on top to spread the cost over more instalments.
Summerville struggled to get much game time under Julen Lopetegui and was even linked with a loan move back to Leeds midway through last season.
Graham Potter had big plans for Summerville but he suffered a serious injury in the first 45 minutes of his tenure and spent the next eight months out.
In that time his old club Leeds have been promoted back to the big time and have made a better fist of staying there than the Hammers.
Summerville is one of the very few positives for West Ham this season.
He was arguably the only player to turn up in the dismal defeat to Brentford on Monday night.
Summerville was described as ‘irreplaceable’ by Daniel Farke when he was sold by Leeds and Nuno Espirito Santo singled him out for praise for his performance levels this week too.
Summerville’s hilarious blunder about Leeds and West Ham fans
Leeds fans loved Summerville and were gutted to see him go.
But as he prepares to face his old club, Summerville has made a funny faux pas about supporters.
Summerville’s hilarious blunder about Leeds and West Ham fans on his return to Elland Road will raise a smile ahead of a hugely important game.
The winger, who turns 24 next week, can be forgiven for the mix-up given his age.
Previously Summerville revealed Leeds disrespect was the reason for his trademark celebration.
How Hammers fans want and need to see that on his return to his old stomping ground.
Ahead of the game, Summerville is clearly the big focus given he is coming up against his old club.
But in an interview about his time at Leeds, Summerville has got it all wrong about a nickname fans gave him.
And he hasn’t even realised West Ham fans have been calling him the same thing since he arrived from Leeds last summer.
Recounting his time at Elland Road, Summerville remembers meeting Leeds legend and fellow Dutchman Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Summerville says it was an honour to meet a player he looked up to so much.
Summerville ‘confused’ by ‘Jimmy’ nickname but gets it all wrong
But he reveals it was even more special when he realised an unusual nickname Leeds fans had given him was after Hasselbaink.
“Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is someone else I admire,” Summerville told West Ham’s website ahead of his return to Leeds.
“When I was at Leeds he reached out to me and gave me some feedback, and since then we’ve connected on social media as well.
“The Leeds fans called me ‘Jimmy’ at first, which I was confused about until I realised it was after him!”
Who wants to tell him?
If Summerville was confused by Leeds fans calling him ‘Jimmy’ then he’ll be baffled when he realises Hammers fans have called him the same thing since he arrived.
But Summerville’s nickname has nothing to do with Hasselbaink.
Because in fact Summerville is merely nicknamed Jimmy after James ‘Jimmy’ Somerville – a singer from Glasgow who rose to prominence in the 1980s, long before Summerville was born, with synth-pop groups Bronski Beat and the Communards.
Somerville achieved commercial success with the 1984 single “Smalltown Boy”.
Calling him after Somerville due to the similarities in the surname is just a playful bit of fun and something English fans often do when christening players with nicknames.
The fact it has gone completely over Summerville’s head says more about his young age than anything else.
He should be assured a warm welcome at Elland Road having been so good for Leeds before his move to West Ham.
But at least he now knows the real reason both Leeds and Hammers fans are calling him ‘Jimmy’.
