By David Woods

1st Feb, 2020 | 8:00am

French expert Laurens states exactly what Leeds are getting with Jean-Kevin Augustin

French football expert Julien Laurens has said that Leeds United have made a “great signing” with new striker Jean-Kevin Augustin, but admitted he hampered his early career through immaturity. 

Augustin signed for Leeds on an initial loan for the rest of the season with an option to buy in the summer.

MOT Leeds News columnist Paul Robinson has said there will be question marks over Augustin, who was sold by PSG before being loaned out by RB Leipzig.

However, talking on the Jim White Show (talkSPORT, Friday 12pm), Laurens – who works as an expert on French football for ESPN, BT Sport, RMC Sport, and 5Live – said that he has no doubt that he will be a “fantastic player for Leeds”.

White asked if it was true that Man United had tried to hijack the Leeds deal late on.

“Yes, I heard that Man United were trying to get him before he signed for Leeds,” Laurens said.

“Augustin’s Potential was great. At the time it was clear he wouldn’t get the game time at PSG, so he went to Leipzig and had some games there but he had to gain some maturity and ended up going to Monaco where it didn’t really work out for him.

“He is a great signing for Leeds, I’m sure he will be a fantastic player for Leeds.”

White said that he put the deal down to the Leeds manager, Marcelo Bielsa saying, “I think it’s to do with the draw of Bielsa. So many players seem to want to play for Bielsa.”

Augustin has a real pedigree of teams behind him – PSG, Red Bull Leipzig and Monaco.

He’s scored for Leipzig in the Champions League against Porto.

However, he has had issues and when he was asked about the last 18 months his body language changed in the press conference on Thursday.

It seems like he knows that his career has come off track a bit and he should be extra keen to prove himself at Leeds.

In other Leeds United news, Bundesliga journalist details Augustin off-the-pitch issues that killed career at RB Leipzig