The Athletic’s Phil Hay has provided an update on Jean-Kevin Augustin’s injury during his recent Q&A feature. The 22-year-old striker joined the Whites on loan from RB Leipzig back in January.
In the update, Hay said: “Augustin trained towards the back end of last week and appears to be over his hamstring strain. How quickly he would have come back into the 18 is for Bielsa to know but this break is a chance for him to get properly up to speed.”
Do you expect to see Augustin play a more active role when the EFL resumes?
Yes
No
The French striker, who is valued at £10.8m by Transfermarkt.co.uk, has made just three appearances in the Championship so far, playing a total of 48 minutes versus Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Bristol City combined. Having been an unused substitute in the narrow victory over Reading last month, Augustin hasn’t appeared in the squad since.
TIF Tactics – Why hasn’t the £10.8m-rated striker hit the ground running at Elland Road?
Prior to his arrival in Yorkshire, the forward had made 67 appearances for RB Leipzig in which he scored 20 goals and provided eight assists (via Transfermarkt.co.uk). However, the Leeds United fans are yet to see much from the former Paris Saint-Germain player.
When asked about his striker last month, Marcelo Bielsa said (via Leeds Live): “Augustin is a player with a lot of impact. He has a lot of skills, resources. You can realise about that for how much he goes, how much he was sold, how much he was bought for and the teams he played for. But Kevin, in the last eight months, played three full matches. So when one player in this period plays just three full matches, the conclusions about his fitness levels are clear.”
As Phil Hay alluded to, perhaps the suspension of the EFL will give him a chance to meet Bielsa’s demands. Indeed, should the campaign be resumed, the 22-year-old will have the opportunity to show everyone at Elland Road why he was brought to the Yorkshire outfit in the first place and potentially help the Argentine’s side return to England’s top tier for the first time since being relegated back in 2004 (BBC).
Should the Whites be promoted, though, they will have an obligation to shell out around £18m for Augustin to turn his switch into a permanent one (Football Insider), so he’ll likely need to prove his worth regardless.