Leeds United news as sources speak out on Jean-Kevin Augustin saga
Sources close to Leeds United have confirmed that the club are preparing an appeal against the £24.5million figure they have been ordered to pay Jean-Kevin Augustin, according to The Telegraph.
The Whites have been obliged to pay Augustin after being found to have breached their former player’s contract from his failed transfer under Marcelo Bielsa.
The Athletic (10 April) reported that the £24.5million fee represented the full payment of the player’s five-year contract of around £78,000 per week.
However, The Telegraph has now shared that a source close to Leeds United has confirmed that the club are preparing to lodge an appeal against the payment.
“Leeds United have been ordered by a Fifa panel to pay former fringe player Jean-Kevin Augustin £24.5million over a long-standing breach of contract row,” they wrote.
“The striker only played for the club three times but has been at the centre of a legal dispute extending back more than two years. Augustin, who is now at Basel, is understood to be due to receive full payment of a fine decided by Fifa’s Dispute Resolution Chamber.
“Sources close to the club confirmed another appeal was being prepared, with the case now heading for the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.”
From bad to worse
The ongoing legal saga surrounding Augustin’s transfer seems a never-ending circus of Leeds United mistakes.
The club’s hierarchy must take full responsibility for mucking up this transfer to such extremes, with a total of £40million worth of payments towards RB Leipzig and the striker far more than the original £18million obliged transfer fee.
Looking back, it would have been a far cheaper process to sign Augustin and just let him sit on the bench under Marcelo Bielsa.
As it is, Leeds are set to face another long-winded legal battle with the Gent striker’s representatives about the payment of his contract and face yet more humiliation in the public eye.
It seems as though the obliged £24.5million the club are being forced to pay Augustin is a sound warning to any other clubs about the expensive consequences of such as transfer dispute.
After this latest update on the Augustin saga, it must go down as the club’s worst signing of all time.
In other Leeds United news, Micah Richards was “furious” at what he saw from one “cheating” Whites ace.