‘Must be very hard for him’ – Hasselbaink expresses sympathy for rarely-seen Leeds talent
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has claimed that Leeds United striker Jean-Kevin Augustin will be frustrated with his start to life in England.
The 23-year-old has been limited to just 48 minutes in the Championship so far after struggling to overcome a hamstring injury since arriving at Elland Road on loan from RB Leipzig in January.
The suspension of action in the second tier looked as if it was going to give him a chance to work his way back to fitness, but the Frenchman was once again ruled out of Marcelo Bielsa’s travelling party for the clash against Cardiff City on Sunday with a similar complaint.
And Hasselbaink has expressed his sympathy for the player.
Speaking on Sky Sports‘ coverage of that match (Sky Sports Football, June 21st, 11.30am), he said: “It is very frustrating, especially when you come into a new team.
“He came already a little bit injured, and obviously with everything that happened with the pandemic you would have thought that by now he would have been ready to play. But when you have injuries, little injuries come.
“It must be very hard for him, but also for the team because they need two out and out strikers.
“They need somebody to come off the bench and make a difference.”
Hasselbaink is absolutely spot on here.
Not only has it been an incredibly frustrating few months for Leeds, but Augustin must be feeling the toll of being constantly held back by injury complaints too.
In fact, Phil Hay has even gone as far as to raise the point that there is no guarantee that the striker will necessarily want to stay at Elland Road this summer, even though his loan from Leipzig contains an option to buy.
Of course, that’s just hypothetical, but you can see his point.
48 minutes is hardly enough time to fall head over heels in love with a club.
From Leeds’ perspective, however, they desperately need another forward.
The fact that they went into Sunday’s meeting with Cardiff with nine subs and no centre-forwards on the bench highlights a real issue that the Whites must deal with.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Shocking’, ‘Garbage’ – These Leeds fans fume at one player after first-half display v Cardiff.