Fans of Leeds United have been reacting to a post on Twitter in which Phil Hay shares a link to an article of his concerning the situation of Jean-Kevin Augustin.
In his article for The Athletic, Hay states that Leeds and RB Leipzig are still ‘locked in battle’ regarding whether or not Marcelo Bielsa’s side owe the Bundesliga outfit a transfer fee for the player, who joined Leeds in a loan deal during the January transfer window.
This loan deal included a €21 million (£18-19 million) obligation-to-buy clause in the event that United went on to secure promotion to the Premier League before his loan ended on 30 June.
However, with the season being put on hold due to the pandemic, Leeds did not go on to secure promotion until 17 July, after the player had already left the club upon the expiry of his loan deal.
With the player apparently without a club this summer – as Leipzig state that, since Leeds’ promotion, he became their player, while Leeds claim that, since his loan deal ran out, the 23-year-old has been nothing to do with them – he joined Nantes on a free transfer.
What do these Leeds fans think of Phil Hay’s update on Augustin?
For a player they have now sold? No chance ?
— Dom (@dommer14) October 10, 2020
The spirit of the rules ??, they don’t have a leg to stand on made stronger by the precedent messi situation and us renegotiating Harrison has set
— Lewis Greenwood (@L_J_Gren) October 10, 2020
Why did they offload him so cheaply if he was worth what they wanted from us? Sounds like dodgy dealing to me. MOT https://t.co/0gYV4B45jM
— steve h (@allwaysatwit) October 10, 2020
Seems the devil is in the detail. If the contract said ‘promoted at the end of the championship season’, then it would be Leeds at fault.
As it says ‘promoted by 30th June’, that leaves it with Leipzig.
The wording of a contract is key
— Name cannot be blank (@1percentburn) October 10, 2020
How can we be liable? It’s like agreeing to buy someone’s car, test driving it for a few days, not liking it and the seller then giving it away for free. If they were certain he was our player they wouldn’t have been able to give him away, surely.
— Ilgigantebuono (@ilgigantebuono) October 10, 2020
But he is another club’s player now (Nantes) so how can we be expected to pay for a player that isn’t ours?
— Enda Maxwell (@maxwell_enda) October 10, 2020
However, in stark contrast to these fans, others appear to think that their club will indeed end up paying some sort of fee for Augustin.
I suspect that the club will eventually pay a small token fee to mutually agree to end this episode. Then the money can be re-couped from Nantes because technically he wasn’t a free agent. For Red Bull, it’s clearly a case of ‘having your cake and also eating it’ .
— Neil Collins (@Braywhite) October 10, 2020
I think we’ll end up paying this, the Ricky Alvarez combined with the Messi interpretation means we’re in trouble. For loss of earnings and the fee I suspect.
— Lord Bielsa (@LordBielsa) October 10, 2020
All in all, it would appear that opinion is somewhat split as to whether fans of Leeds believe their club will end up paying a fee for the striker.
Do you think Leeds will end up paying some sort of fee for Augustin?
Yes
No
With Hay stating that both clubs are not backing down from their current positions on the matter, we could well see this saga being settled in court.