Jean-Kevin Augustin came to Leeds United from Red Bull Leipzig via a bomb of a loan move to French glamour side AS Monaco. The Whites had tried to land Southampton’s Che Adams but to no avail. Therefore, the solidly-built Augustin was their man. That loan is to convert to a permanent deal upon Premier League promotion. Journalist Phil Hay has, in the recent past, had doubts as to whether the move will go ahead.
As mentioned above, the loan move that brought Augustin to Elland Road will convert to a permanent deal upon Premier League promotion. German publication Kicker say that the cost of this conversion will be around the €25million/£22.5million mark – this consisting of a final payment of around £20million on top of a reported €4million/£2.6million loan fee.
The problem, from a Leeds United perspective, is the seeming fragility of the Frenchman and whether he’s cut out for the rigours of a Bielsa-spurred Leeds United outfit. He only appeared in three games since he arrived at Elland Road. These three appearances, all from the bench, against Nottingham Forest (19′), Brentford (14′) and Bristol City (15′) and totalled just 48 minutes. That’s when he suffered his first injury, a hamstring twinge.
Leeds United ‘doubts’ over Jean-Kevin Augustin
After clearing up doubts as to whether Augustin was still in Leeds, something written about here on The 72, Hay has a deeper doubt about the Leeds United striker and his position at the club. He states this saying:
“The much bigger question here is whether or not here Leeds at the end of this season are going to have the appetite for this move that’s been proposed from Leipzig. And even though it has been described several times as an obligation I struggle to see how, if Augustin decides this is not for him, Leeds or Leipzig would be able to go ahead with the deal.
That ‘doubt’ seems to have been revisited today on Twitter by Phil Hay in answering questions on a tweet asking Leeds United fans to choose a topic for his weekly podcast.
Leeds seem to think they have until June 30 to extend JKA, because it’s a loan (not him out of contract). Regardless, I’d be surprised if they do extend given that he’s not fit. But he is still in Leeds.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) June 23, 2020
Leipzig think Leeds are locked in. If Leeds don’t fancy it, they’ll try to find a way out.
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) June 23, 2020
Augustin is currently injured after pushing himself to get fit again during the Covid-19 lockdown. There are real fears that he might not feature for Leeds United in the next eight games. With such a massive outlay expected of them, you can perhaps understand why the Whites might be looking for a get-out clause.
