‘Prone to injury’ – BBC pundit makes worrying claim about Augustin after club update
Jean-Kevin Augustin is playing for the Leeds United Under-23s tonight in their PL Cup game against Derby County.
That news will be bad enough in itself for many fans as it means he’s almost certainly not going to be involved tomorrow for the first team against Nottingham Forest.
But there was a very worrying claim from BBC pundit Noel Whelan on hearing the news tonight.
He said that Augustin will be prone to injury and that, even if he doesn’t break down, he is six games away from the first team.
The former Leeds striker was talking on the Noel Whelan Show on BBC Radio Leeds on Friday night (6pm).
“I think [Augustin] was his third choice, it’s a rush signing,” Whelan said.
“Yes, he may have potential. From people who’ve seen him for the U23s, he was overweight, he will need a mini pre-season. We need a striker now.”
Co-host Adam Pope relayed the team news from Leeds that Augustin would be playing for the Under-23s again tonight.
“Then he won’t be playing tomorrow,” Whelan said. “The problem is when you’re not match fit, you’re a little overweight and you haven’t played much, you’re prone to injury.
“We needed a striker who is fit, who’s played a lot more than three games and who can go straight into the side.
“We need someone who can go in tomorrow and help. We needed someone who could help against Wigan. What is he, six games away? That’s what you’re looking at.”
This isn’t what anyone wants to hear at the moment.
There are 16 games left in the Championship and we can’t afford to play six of them with just one striker.
The hope is that Augustin can get himself up to speed quicker but Whelan makes a good point when he says that the new striker will be prone to injury at the moment.
Augustin went down on the stroke of half time in the Under-23s game on Monday and ended up hobbling off the pitch.
An injury to Augustin tonight would be nothing short of disastrous.
We’re at Bootham Crescent tonight and we’ll be bringing you (hopefully positive) live updates from York.
In other Leeds United news, Times journalist makes Augustin training claim after visit to Thorp Arch