Jean-Kevin Augustin's departure from Leeds United came back in the summer of 2020, but that is not where his ties with the club came to an end.
News has now emerged that Leeds have reportedly been ordered to pay Augustin £24.5million in compensation after they were found to have allegedly breached the former forward's contract. A report from The Athletic states that the Swiss striker has been awarded compensation after he took the case against Leeds to FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, who 'found partially in his favour'.
A Leeds United spokesperson has told LeedsLive: "The club cannot comment on an ongoing legal matter", and the club are expected to appeal the decision.
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It all stems from a the Swiss striker moving to Elland Road in January of 2020 on a loan deal from Red Bull Leipzig with an alleged obligation to buy clause of £18m, contingent on whether Leeds would achieve promotion to the Premier League. The Whites did indeed return to the top flight but their argument over not needing to complete the deal is a matter of timing.
They achieved promotion on July 17 - after the expiry of the Augustin loan deal on June 30 - due to the delays to the season following the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore they argued that they had no obligation to purchase Augustin as they only achieved promotion after his contract with them came to an end.
The 25-year-old played just 48 minutes spread across three games for Leeds during his time in West Yorkshire. He would fail to find the back of the net for the Whites and would eventually return to parent club RB Leipzig after the conclusion of the 2019/20 campaign.
In October 2020, the Swiss forward joined Nantes on a two-year deal as a free agent but would only play 34 minutes for them across the entire 20/21 season. It would later emerge that Augustin was suffering with 'long-COVID' and other off-field issues that would hamper his ability to play regularly.
The 21/22 campaign at Nantes would also see Augustin fail to complete a full 90 minutes across the season, playing just seven times in Ligue 1, failing to find the back of the net once again. At the expiry of his contract, a move to Basel in the summer transfer window looks to have offered the attacker a slight change in fortunes.
Augustin has scored three goals in 12 league appearances for Basel so far this season - providing a goal and an assist across his last two matches for the Swiss club. He is still yet to play a full 90 minutes, but having featured in five successive league games he will no doubt be hoping to kick on and show the world what he has to offer on the football pitch - something that Leeds supporters never came to see at Elland Road.
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