Leeds United: £40m down drain as Andrea Radrizzani and Victor Orta make critical Jean-Kevin Augustin error
Yet another damning chapter in the Leeds United and Jean-Kevin Augustin saga has surfaced, and yet again, it doesn’t paint Andrea Radrizzani and Victor Orta in a good light.
It was revealed on Monday evening (10 April) that Leeds United must pay Augustin £24.5million after being found to have breached their former player’s contract.
This hefty-looking figure, which is understood to be the value of the player’s £78,000 weekly wage for the duration of his five-year contract, is yet another cost in possibly one of the worst transfer decisions in the club’s history. [The Athletic]
The £24.5million that the club have been ordered to pay comes on top of the original £15.5million settlement they had to pay RB Leipzig, meaning Radrizzani and Orta have thrown £40million straight down the drain.
How the club’s hierarchy thought they could get away without paying the German club for the transfer fee and, secondly, not honouring his contract is ludicrous.
By the looks of the legal dispute with Augustin’s representatives, the size of the payment that Leeds are being forced to pay will be a sound warning to other clubs about the risks and potential consequences of transfer disputes of this nature.
The whole situation surrounding Augustin paints Leeds in a really bad light and shows arrogance from those at the top of the tree that they could get away without paying the £18million transfer fee at the end of Augustin’s original loan at Elland Road.
The Whites argued that because the striker’s loan ended on 30 June during the COVID-affected 2019/20 season and the club weren’t promoted until 17 July, their obligation to buy terms in the loan agreement hadn’t been met.
It honestly would have just been easier to fork out the required money for the Frenchman’s services and let him rot at Elland Road if needs be.
The cost of legal fees, payments towards RB Leipzig and now payments to Augustin himself have surpassed anything Radrizzani and Orta could ever have imagined.
Augustin only managed 48 minutes of action in a Leeds United top, with the latest payment towards the player meaning that Leeds United have coughed up £1.2million per minute of the striker’s time on the Elland Road pitch.
This £24.5million payment caps off quite simply one of the most catastrophic pieces of transfer business in the club’s history.
In other Leeds United news, a man who snubbed Elland Road is now in line to become an opponent.