Demands Leeds United cough up more than €6.7m as part of their €21m Jean-Kevin Augustin deal will go to arbitration today.
On June 1 last year, FIFA found in favour of RB Leipzig, who had claimed Leeds had reneged on their agreement to pay €21m in instalments for Augustin upon promotion from the Championship.
Roy Vermeer, Single Judge of the Players Status Committee at FIFA, passed the judgement last June which ruled Leeds must pay Leipzig more than €6.7m, in line with the first instalment of that transfer deal.
The decision also said, until the money was paid, Leeds would be banned from registering any new players across three consecutive transfer windows.
However, United appealed the decision, and any punishments, which will today be heard by a panel of arbitrators in a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing.
The hearing is not open to the public and a decision is unlikely to be issued to either party for several weeks.
The dispute is rooted in the terminology used within the agreement between Leeds and Leipzig on the obligation to permanently transfer Augustin upon promotion.
The paperwork attached to FIFA’s decision last summer states Leeds had an option to buy Augustin for €21m across three €7m instalments due by September 30 in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The Whites could choose to do this provided they informed Leipzig of their intention to do so by May 30, 2020, or the obligation to follow that same package upon promotion.
The agreement stated, in the event of promotion, the transfer will be triggered “with effect as of July 1, 2020.”
Evidently, the pause in the Championship season ensured Leeds were not promoted before June 30 and thus Leeds contest the agreement became null and void, while Leipzig believe it remained in place.
FIFA set out the timeline of correspondence between the clubs in the run-up to the dispute throughout 2020.
On January 26, as he was tying up his loan deal to Leeds, it was agreed Augustin would move onto a five-year contract should the permanent transfer come through in the summer.
On April 24, some five weeks after the shutdown of the Championship season, Leeds e-mailed Augustin’s agent and sought permission to extend the striker’s loan beyond June 30, extend the deadline for the obligation to buy him and consider changing the payment instalments because of Covid-19.
On June 12, Leipzig agreed to the first two requests, but declined to reconsider the payment plan agreed for Augustin.
On June 13, Leeds made it clear they were no longer interested in extending the loan and the obligation to buy was null and void because the season went beyond the June 30 deadline.
Leeds wrote: “Promotion will not have been achieved by July 1, 2020 and further it would be impossible for Leeds United to complete any transfer by July 1 given the English transfer window will not open until July 25 at the earliest.
“Any right or requirement to purchase the player is therefore voided as a result of not being able to affect the transfer by July 1.”
Two days later, Leipzig said the promotion clause was not determined by a certain date.
On June 16, Augustin wrote to Leeds in support of Leipzig's position and requested acknowledgement of the binding contract he felt they had.
Between June 22 and August 23, FIFA said the two clubs continued to butt heads, but ultimately no agreement was reached and the September 30 deadline passed without a first payment from Leeds.
On October 5, Augustin registered with Nantes as a free agent.
