‘Spooked’ – Phil Hay details lengths Leeds went to for Augustin in face of Man United hijack
Leeds United beat Man United to the signing of Jean-Kevin Augustin from Red Bull Leipzig.
That sounds good doesn’t it?
But, while the transfer went through relatively quickly over the space of a weekend, Leeds were “spooked” by late interest from Man United, according to Athletic journalist Phil Hay.
They went to great lengths to keep Augustin hidden away (even from the Leeds fans, who are normally so good at transfer sightings) to make sure they got his signature in the face of “persistent” last-minute pleas from the Premier League giants.
According to Hay, Leeds knew the importance of sealing the deal, with the January deadline approaching and were suffering “paranoia” after United started calling.
They would have known they couldn’t afford to have a repeat of the Daniel James debacle from last January and the stakes were high.
Writing in the Athletic, Hay said, “The word was out in France by Saturday night but in Leeds, paranoia surrounded the signing of Jean-Kevin Augustin.
“He was flown over by private jet the following day to a quiet runaway at Leeds-Bradford Airport and sneaked into the DoubleTree Hilton where one room was booked for him and another, next door, was kitted out by Leeds United for a medical on Monday morning.”
Hay said that Leeds were nervous about “Manchester United bringing their incoherent recruitment plan to Augustin’s door.”
Despite the state of United at the moment, they’re a huge club and many players would have been tempted. But not Augustin, and for that Leeds fans will be forever grateful if he fires the club into the Premier League.
Hay went into more detail about the United efforts.
“As Augustin’s agent, the well-connected Meissa N’Diaye, negotiated an end to the forward’s season-long loan at Monaco and set up his client’s move from RB Leipzig to Leeds, calls began coming from the Old Trafford hierarchy; persistent, last-minute pleas.
“Leeds were spooked but Augustin was already decided. Marcelo Bielsa would do for him, even if life with Bielsa meant laps around Thorp Arch’s running track as soon as he got there on Monday.”
Augustin has already endeared himself to the Leeds fans.
As well as rejecting United (and you can’t get a much better start to your Leeds career than this), Augustin spent the weekend liking tweets from Leeds supporters.
And he showed he’s got the Twitter game to keep the fans onside when he laid into Millwall for time-wasting in the game last night.
Augustin should be in the squad to face Wigan on Saturday but he’s likely going to have to wait for his first start after Patrick Bamford scored two last night.
Having him on the bench will make Leeds fans feel a lot more secure, though, and they may well get their first glimpse of him in action at Elland Road on Saturday.
In other Leeds United news, ‘It ain’t fair’ – Ian Poveda sends message to Leeds fans after crazy 3-2 win v Millwall