Brighton & Hove Albion have completed the signing of Georginio Rutter from Leeds United.
The French forward has signed a five-year contract at the Amex Stadium and becomes the south coast club’s seventh summer signing under new head coach Fabian Hurzeler.
The Athletic previously reported that the Premier League club had activated a £40million release clause in the 22-year-old’s Leeds contract.
The Championship outfit had previously turned down bids of £29m and £35m before Brighton met the terms of Rutter’s exit mechanism.
Hurzeler said: “Georginio is a player who has the capabilities to get fans off their seats and really showed what he can do in English football with Leeds last season — but I have known about him since he played in Germany for Hoffenheim.
“Now we have to integrate him into the team. We’re looking forward to working with him.”
Brighton technical director David Weir said: “Georginio is a player we have been looking at for a while. He’s a strong technical player and one we are excited to bring to the club. We look forward to seeing him continue to develop with us.”
Rutter joins fellow summer arrivals arrivals Yankuba Minteh, Mats Wieffer, Amario Cozier-Duberry, Malick Yalcouye, Brajan Gruda and Ibrahim Osman, who has since joined Feyenoord on loan.
The France Under-21 international joined Leeds from Hoffenheim in January 2023 for £25m plus £10m in add-ons, which are not expected to be met if Rutter completes a switch to the Amex Stadium.
He made 11 Premier League appearances during the second half of the 2022-23 campaign as Leeds were relegated to the second tier.
The forward provided seven goals and 15 assists in 47 Championship appearances last season, but Leeds missed out on promotion following defeat to Southampton in May’s play-off final.
Brighton are top of the Premier League table after beating Everton 3-0 on the opening weekend of the season.
They return to action at home to Manchester United on Saturday.
GO DEEPER
Brighton have immense attacking depth – with Rutter, Gruda and Ferguson still to come
(George Wood/Getty Images)
