MOT View: Injured Leeds star may not start a game for Bielsa this season
Leeds United don’t have much luck with transfers and injuries.
Although, after Izzy Brown turned up injured on loan and then failed to start a game, playing just 11 minutes of football for the club, you’d think Leeds would have learned their lesson.
However, it looks like history could be repeating itself.
Jean-Kevin Augustin was signed after only making two starts for Monaco this season.
Marcelo Bielsa said he wasn’t match fit and when he made it into the squad, he was only used as a substitute late on.
The eye test in these games suggested that Augustin was way of being ‘Bielsa fit’ and MOT Leeds News columnist Paul Robinson claimed that he would be susceptible to injury as he tried to push for starts.
That’s turned out to be prescient as Augustin was missing from the squad to face Middlesbrough on Wednesday. Marcelo Bielsa confirmed that he had picked up a hamstring problem and would also miss the game against Hull.
Best case scenario, with a hamstring, Augustin will be out for a couple of weeks.
Given that he wasn’t match fit when he was injured, this is going to set him back probably to the point where he signed. And since then he’s gone seven games without starting.
Let’s do the math. There are 11 games left in the season, 10 after the game on Saturday.
With all the will in the world, he won’t be available until the Cardiff game at the earliest and more likely until after the Fulham game.
That would see just seven games left and Augustin back to proving that he’s match fit.
It’s not just us who think he won’t start a game this season. Josh Hobbs from our favourite Leeds stats site All Stats Aren’t We thinks the exact same thing.
If we can hobble to the finish line and get promoted with just one striker then signing Augustin could still turn out to be a great move.
Leeds have an obligation to buy him if they get promoted and he’s an undoubted talent.
However, if Leeds don’t get promoted, we’ll lose him and his signing could turn out to be a huge mistake from Victor Orta and Marcelo Bielsa.
In other Leeds United news, ‘It is true’ – Phil Hay: This is what I’ve been told about Bielsa and Real Betis