Former Leeds United man's fitness nightmare goes on with new club as Whites await court decision - YEP 5/7/22
Former Leeds United striker Jean-Kevin Augustin’s fitness nightmare is continuing with a fresh set-back in training at his new club.
By Graham Smyth
The Frenchman, whose 2020 move to Elland Road from RB
Leipzig is still a matter being considered by the Court of Arbitration for
Sport, joined FC Basel in the Swiss Super League last month.
Augustin’s contract with Nantes ran out, making him a free
agent, but three weeks into his stay with Basel the 25-year-old has picked up
an injury.
His club have reported that Augustin ruptured a ligament in
his right foot while working in their pre-season training camp. The injury
occured without a tackle being made and an MRI scan revealed that the extent of
the problem will keep him out of action for several weeks.
This latest issue continues a trend suffered by Augustin
since his January 2020 loan move to Leeds. He was brought in to compete with
Patrick Bamford for the number nine role in Marcelo Bielsa’s team but a calf
issue and subsequent failure to return to full fitness meant he played just 48
minutes of Championship football.
Bielsa was content for Augustin to leave Elland Road and
return to his parent club before the season resumed after a Covid-19 enforced
break. Although the deal with Leipzig had a €21m obligation to buy if Leeds won
promotion, it became a matter of dispute between the two clubs.
Leeds felt that their obligation was rendered null and void
because they were promoted after the original loan deal was due to expire on
June 30, thanks to the three-month pause in world football’s calendar. Leipzig
disagreed, FIFA backed the German club’s position and Leeds appealed, taking it
to CAS.
A four-hour hearing in Lausanne, Switzerland, took place in
March and the result has not yet been delivered but Leipzig believe they will
come out on top.
Speaking to Frankfurter Allgemeine after the hearing,
Leipzig commercial director for sport Florian Scholz said: “RB Leipzig again
clearly deposited its points in the hearing in front of the CAS. We still see
ourselves as right and are therefore very confident about the written verdict.”
The dispute has not impacted upon Leeds’ ability to do
business with the Red Bull group, however. This summer they have already bought
RB Salzburg pair Brenden Aaronson and Rasmus Kristensen, for a combined sum of
£35m, and are close to finalising a move for defensive midfielder Tyler Adams
from Leipzig.
As for Augustin, he left Leipzig to join Nantes in the
summer of 2020 but continued to struggle with fitness.
He was relegated to the reserves in February 2021 by Antoine
Kombouaré having made just three brief cameo Ligue 1 appearances that season,
and he didn’t return until midway through the following campaign. It was
revealed in January of this year that Augustin had suffered from long COVID and
Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition causing muscle weakness.
Although he did make it back into the Nantes side in the
second half of last season, Augustin still only managed 77 minutes of senior
league action before departing in the summer to join Basel.