Former Hyde United player Paddy Miller discussed the Jean-Kevin Augustin situation on a recent edition of the Talking Shutt podcast. It was announced earlier in the week that the club would not be extending the player’s loan stay (via leedsunited.com).
The French striker arrived at Elland Road in January but has been limited to just three appearances for the Whites due to a lack of fitness, playing a total of just 48 minutes in the Championship (via Transfermarkt).
Due to the player’s alleged inability to get himself up to the fitness levels demanded by Marcelo Bielsa and the fact he has subsequently made very little impact at the club, it is now being reported that the Whites are looking to find a way out of signing the RB Leipzig forward for €21m (£18.92m) in the event they achieve promotion to the Premier League.
With regard to the ongoing saga, Miller told the podcast: “It’s just bad luck, isn’t it? He’s obviously got quality, his reputation is brilliant, isn’t it? I know he’s had a bit of a bad 12 or 18 months but he had a massive price tag on him at one point, didn’t he?
“So, you don’t get to that level without having some sort of quality. Nobody really knows, is he injured? Is he not injured?”
“It could be one of them where he might not be fully fit, we all know what Bielsa’s like in terms of – if you’re not 100% you’re not playing, you never know Leeds might just have said to him just go back, cut the losses on the wages at the minute so we don’t have to fork out and we’ll take it from there in the summer.”
Do you think Leeds United will manage to find a way of breaking the obligation to buy clause?
Yes
No
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TIF Thoughts…
Miller clearly believes that the player has something to offer if he can get fit, however, he has been at the club since the start of the year and the Leeds United fans are yet to see him start a game.
Taking into account all of the above, we wouldn’t be surprised if the club has decided to cut their losses on the Frenchman and are actively working on a way to avoid having to purchase Augustin if they achieve promotion as stated by Manuel Veth.