Crysencio Summerville may be about to trade in Pablo Felipe at West Ham United for Karim Benzema in Saudi Arabia.
As teammates go, this is the equivalent of taking your trundling hatchback into the shop and coming out with a fancy, if somewhat rusty, sports car.
Now 38, Karim Benzema’s Champions League and Ballon D’Or-winning days are behind him. But the Real Madrid icon still scored 25 goals in 34 games last season. He may have lost a yard or two of pace, but the width of the goalposts hasn’t changed.
£70m for Summerville! Where does this rank among West Ham’s best-ever sales?
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As Crysencio Summerville prepares to join Benzema in the Middle East – West Ham United have agreed to sell the Dutchman for £68 million – Al Hilal will finally add a player in his prime to a strikeforce of fading stars.
Crysencio Summerville to leave West Ham United for Al Hilal
Summerville will become the second-biggest Saudi Pro League signing ever, behind only Neymar.
Neymar’s Al Hilal stint was nothing short of an injury-ruined disaster. He is a thing of the past these days. Unfortunately for Al Hilal, so is their domination of the domestic scene.
Al Hilal have finished as runners-up in each of the last two seasons; behind Al Ittihad in 2025 and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr in 2026.
With a return to the summit the priority, Summerville will be under pressure to make a much better impression than another big-money acquisition from England; Darwin Nunez.
If Liverpool fans thought Nunez was frustrating – capable of making the difficult look routine and the routine look impossible – a tally of just nine goals in 24 Al Hilal appearances makes a mockery of the Uruguayan’s £46 million price-tag.
Perhaps Summerville – West Ham’s number seven is set for a £200,000-a-week pay rise – will give Nunez the ammunition he needs. Although, with a weapon in his hands, one of the most divisive players in Liverpool’s modern history would give Darth Vader’s worst Stormtrooper a run for his money in the accuracy stakes.
Al Hilal’s frontline next season is likely to read Summerville on the left, Benzema through the middle, and ex-Barcelona benchwarmer Malcom on the right. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic – the former Lazio talisman forever linked with a mega-money move to Manchester United – lines up alongside Wolves legend Ruben Neves in a midfield dripping with class and guile.
Former Chelsea and Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly is the big name at centre-back while, running in beyond Summerville on the overlap will be ex-AC Milan left-back and 2018 World Cup winner Theo Hernandez.
Summerville may suffer an unpleasant bout of deja vu when he is first introduced to his new teammates, though.
Al Hilal keeper Yassine Bounou broke Summerville’s heart at the World Cup
If you were Nils Koppen, who are YOU signing to replace Summerville?
Abdul Fatawu, Simon Adingra and Sorba Thomas have been linked…
Morocco knocked the Netherlands out of the World Cup thanks largely to the dazzling penalty-saving qualities of Yassine Bounou. Al Hilal’s metaphorical number one and literal number 37 left Summerville bamboozled when he simply stood up and swatted aside a spot-kick bound for the top corner of the Morocco goal.
Oh to be a fly on the wall of the Al Hilal training centre when Summerville is going through pre-match penalty drills…
In addition to becoming the second-biggest Saudi Pro League signing, Summerville becomes the third-biggest export in West Ham’s history.
Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has coaxed £68 million out of Al Hilal only weeks after the Hammers sold Mateus Fernandes to Tottenham for £85 million. So, this is what £155 million gets you these days; a midfielder twice relegated from the Premier League and a forward with six goals and five assists in 50 top-flight appearances.
Fernandes and Summerville certainly deserved to see their West Ham careers end in a more positive light. But still, a £40 million profit on one and selling the other for £20 million above his release clause… that is some consolation.
Let us just wipe away the years with a handful of bank notes…
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