Jean-Kevin Augustin: How Leeds were forced to pay £40m for an on-loan striker who played just 48 minutes

The 2019-20 season was one of pure jubilation for Leeds United as Marcelo Bielsa's side ended the club's 16-year exile from the Premier League in style, storming to the Championship title by 10 points ahead of second-placed West Brom. Leeds earned widespread praise for their free-flowing brand of football along the way, with key players such as Patrick Bamford, Ben White, Kalvin Phillips and Stuart Dallas all becoming modern-day icons in the eyes of supporters.

Promotion bonuses totalling £20 million ($27m) were also handed out, and commercial revenue significantly increased from the previous season. Remarkably, though, Leeds still posted a £64m ($85m) loss for the financial year. That is, in no small part, down to the bizarre transfer saga involving French striker Jean-Kevin Augustin, which somewhat soured the Whites' long-awaited return to the big time.

Augustin only played 48 minutes in his disastrous six-month loan spell at Elland Road, but still ended up costing the club a whopping £40m ($53m). Indeed, he is now widely remembered as the worst-value signing in the history of English football, even ahead of infamous Chelsea flop Winston Bogarde, who pocketed £8m in wages in exchange for just nine Premier League appearances between 2000 and 2004.

An ugly legal battle dragged on long after Augustin's departure, and in the end, he scored a big victory for player power. This is the ultimate example of a transfer gone wrong, with Augustin's case now serving as a cautionary tale for boardrooms across the country…

AFP'So much potential and rarely uses it'

Augustin came through the youth ranks at Paris Saint-Germain and broke into the senior squad in April 2015, but saw his path to regular minutes blocked by first-choice centre-forwards Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He sought a fresh start in the summer of 2017, and RB Leipzig won the race for his services, tying the Frenchman down to a five-year contract after agreeing a €13m deal with PSG.

That fee initially looked like a bargain as Augustin recorded 18 goal involvements in 37 appearances across all competitions during his debut season in Germany, including a memorable winner against Porto in the Champions League. However, he only managed eight goals in the following campaign, and gradually fell out of favour with head coach Ralf Rangnick. The club also disciplined Augustin for sitting on his mobile phone shortly before kick-off in their Europa League clash with Red Bull Salzburg, an act Rangnick described as "perverse" in an interview with .

A couple of months later, Rangnick said in a brutally honest public assessment of Augustin, "He has so much potential and rarely uses it." It was no surprise when Leipzig decided to loan Augustin out to Monaco in September 2019, but a return to France did not reignite his lost spark. He only found the net once in 12 appearances, nine of which came as a substitute, and it was reported that then-Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim also had issues with his attitude.

Getty Images SportBielsa's big gamble

Despite his struggles for playing time and form, Leeds saw an opportunity in the winter transfer window. They were one point off the Championship summit and had already brought in new goalkeeper Elia Caprile and winger Ian Poveda when they swooped for Augustin, who was deemed to be the final piece in their promotion puzzle.

On January 27, 2020, Monaco and Augustin mutually agreed to cut his loan short so that Leipzig could send him to Elland Road through to the end of the season, and an £18m (£24m) obligation to buy was included in the deal to be triggered if Leeds made it back to the Premier League. Bielsa took a huge gamble on the then-22-year-old, who was, incredibly, also being linked with Manchester United at the time, but was certain about the qualities he could bring to the team.

"He's a centre-forward with good movement and mobility," the Uruguayan coach told the club's official website after Augustin's unveiling. "In the team, he's involved in the combination play and has a lot of presence in the box."

The former France youth star, who helped fire his country to glory at the Under-19 European Championship alongside Kylian Mbappe in 2016, added when quizzed on what the fans could expect from him: "They are going to see a player who is always going to leave everything on the pitch, try to score goals and help the team. I want to transmit my passion for football, I really love football."

GettyConcerns from the off

Suffice it to say, Augustin never made good on that vow and failed to transmit any sort of passion. Concerns were raised early on, too, as he was left out of Bielsa's squad for games against Millwall and Wigan, and given two runs outs with Leeds' U23s squad instead.

Bielsa defended that decision in a passionate press-conference rant, telling reporters: "Augustin is a player who can make a lot of impact. He has a lot of skills. But in the last eight months, he played three full matches. When this happens, the conclusions about his fitness levels are clear. Would a player with the ability of Augustin arrive to our club if he wasn’t in the situation that he’s in now?

"A player of his level, with his skills, if he’s playing, he could cost £30m or £40m. If he arrived here without us paying that money, it’s because he has to resolve a problem – that he wasn’t playing. His fitness performance is very important. If Augustin gets to 70 per cent of his skills, it is enough for him to play here. If he can only use 50% of his skills, then it is not enough."

The Leeds boss did hand Augustin his debut two days later, away at Nottingham Forest, but he still seemed to be operating at just 50%. In an 18-minute cameo from the bench, the Leipzig loanee touched the ball only six times and won just one of his four aerial duels. He did not inject any fresh impetus upfront after replacing Bamford, and Leeds slumped to a disappointing 2-0 defeat.

Getty Images SportSidelined

Augustin also came on late for Bamford in subsequent meetings with Brentford and Bristol City, but was again unable to make any meaningful impact. He was even guilty of missing a golden chance from six yards out against the latter, which prompted pundit Clinton Morrison to remark, "He looks massively unfit." That would turn out to be his final appearance for Leeds.

At the end of February, Augustin suffered a hamstring injury that kept him out of the team's last three fixtures before the season was put on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. He worked to make a full recovery during lockdown, and when Leeds finally resumed training in early June, he reported for duty in good spirits.

However, according to , Augustin struggled to cope with the intensity of the sessions, and Bielsa grew frustrated. The manager told the Leeds hierarchy that it would be a mistake to retain the PSG academy graduate's services, and the club confirmed his departure on July 1 after the expiration of his loan deal. Leeds then wrapped up their campaign with seven victories and just one defeat to secure the Championship trophy, but the shadow of Augustin would linger over the celebrations.