Eyes in the Jean-Kevin Augustin camp must have lit up on November 4 last year. When the Court of Arbitration for Sport sided with FIFA and RB Leipzig on Leeds United’s transfer dispute with the Bundesliga outfit, it must have felt like Christmas came early for the French forward’s representatives.
In ordering Leeds to honour a permanent transfer which should have come to pass, football’s governing bodies were effectively legitimising Augustin’s prospective Elland Road contract. The details of the striker’s deal at Leeds, in the event of promotion from the Championship, have never been made public, but The Athletic has provided some context.
Last night, the website reported FIFA had ordered another eight-figure payout from Leeds, but this time for allegedly breaching Augustin’s contract. A £24.5m instruction sums up why the French striker’s representatives, led by agent Meïssa N'Diaye, have followed hot on the heels of Leipzig with their own litigation.
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The decision, which is yet to be published by FIFA with all of its various details and finer points of argument, is understood to be under appeal by the Whites. While it remains to be seen what officially happens once the judicial wheels finish turning, the precedent set by CAS in November makes it look ominous for Leeds.
If United are to fight the decision or perhaps look to get the overall amount down, they may point to Augustin’s subsequent earnings with Nantes and Basel, for whom he has played 513 league minutes since October 2020. Regardless of the arguments Leeds may use in their appeal, this has the makings of a catastrophic sting in the tail of an already ugly beast for the current administration.
Even before Augustin’s claim, the £15.5m settlement with Leipzig, revealed on Sunday in the club accounts, made this saga the worst value-for-money transfer in United history. Even halving the figure reported by The Athletic would add more than £12m to a mess which will go down in club folklore for all the wrong reasons.
Time will tell what FIFA’s official ruling says and what comes out of Leeds’ appeal, but aside from that, there should be no surprise to anyone at Elland Road this was coming down the line from Augustin once CAS set that precedent on the matter.
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