Right from the off I am going to stick my neck out and state that Leeds Utd will not be found guilty of any wrongdoing in the case of RB Leipzig V Leeds Utd in the sale/loan/purchase of Jean-Kevin Augustin. As we know the case has been referred to FIFA by JKA’s former club. If they had a strong case they would have gone direct to law, but knew they would lose so are trying via FIFA. The contract stated that Leeds Utd would pay a loan fee and wages for JKA and if at the end of the season (June 2020) Leeds were promoted they agree to buy JKA for £19m. The agreed date wasn’t extended however the season was extended, therefore JKA returned to his club in June and had a huge problem as both his club and the club that agreed to buy him upon promotion didn’t want him to stay and see out the season finale’. JKA arrived in Leeds overweight and unfit, but he worked hard and we saw the weight drop off and his body shape changed dramatically. He came on as sub only 3 times and after a lot of weeks Bielsa decided Big Kev could never get himself fit enough to play for Leeds. Some ex players also stated not many players can get fit enough to play for Bielsa which is totally wrong. In fact Big Kev was allowed to sign for Nantes and played off the bench twice but has been sent to train with the kids until he gets himself into shape. He has been at Nantes through the close season so been there months now. So we now have 2 clubs who refuse to play him because he’s unfit and not even fit enough to train with both first team squads. So in effect Leipzig are guilty of ‘passing off’ a product that is not fit for use. Faulty goods, and now verified by another club. Yes Leipzig feel aggrieved that an asset they had has lost 100% of its value and blame Leeds Utd. But in law a contract date takes precedent over anything else within a contract. Morality doesn’t come into it, so in law Leeds were within their rights and what has since happened at Nantes confirms the action that Leeds Utd took was the correct one. FIFA could try and resolve this amicably on a technicality but Leipzig who spent £13m on JKA and paid his wages, were hoping to sell him on, even though they had loaned him out to a French club because they didn’t fancy him, they wanted to make a profit of over £7m from Leeds for a player who was faulty. Including loan fee and high wages Leeds lost £5m on the deal before even looking at paying the £19m transfer fee. Leeds had paid a total £5m which equates to £104,000 per minute. So how did we get from being one of the hottest properties in World football to this.? JKA came up through the ranks of the mighty Paris St Germain (PSG) and alongside his best mate Kylian Mbappe they were ripping defences apart and scoring goals for fun. His record for PSG B was awesome playing 38 times and scoring 22 goals. He was selected to play for France at all age levels: France U16 played 7 scored 2 France U19 played 13 scored 12 France U20 played 6 scored 5 France U21 played 9 scored 5 Played 35 scored 24 goals = a goal every 1.4 games and a better record than his mate Mbappe He played off the bench 23 times for PSG first team scoring only 2. Was this a sign that PSG had found a weakness or defect, or was it because the transition from the B team was huge and just normal. He was however sold to RB Leipzig for £13m and at the start the fans loved him and some of his performances, skills and goals were a wonder. He played 42 games scoring 12 but again a lot of these appearances were from the bench and a 12 goal return isn’t a bad result. He was then loaned out to Monaco where he only played 10 games scoring no goals. He was then loaned out to Leeds where he came off the bench 3 times and scored no goals. He was then allowed to leave Leipzig as a free agent and he was signed by Nantes who have used him twice but again no goals and now expelled to work with the kids and on his own So how the hell does somebody with so much talent get from right up in the clouds down to the depths of this horror show? I suspect an underlying health issue, otherwise he would be classed as the laziest twat in football, but in fairness at Leeds we only saw someone desperate to do whatever he could to play, but as soon as he got close he pulled another muscle. so not lazy at all, in fact a persistent guy who wanted to show the fans what he could do?
Not suggesting it is the case, but mental illness in the form of depression seems a fairly good fit. You have good spells & bad spells .....
The kid didn't do alot wrong whilst at Leeds. He came, admitted he needed to get fit, worked hard during lockdown and looked lean and ready to go but broke down again. I don't think it was work ethic that let him down. His body just couldn't cope. I actually feel a bit sorry for the kid.
Exactly this I was one of the massive fans of this signing and chuffed we had managed to pull it off, but couldnt understand why he couldnt play for us. I was even questioning Bielsa thats how bad it got because I could see Big Kev was desperate to make a mark. He had a great relationship with the fans too, who would no way accept a lazy twat. When I checked out his stats it does seem that from being one of the most talked about kids in world football, once he started for PSG first team his reputation started going downhill. From being first name on the team-sheet for the B team and for his country up to U21 level, not one full cap? So was his work at PSG first team not cutting it? He did score a dozen goals which is pretty good in one season of Ligue1. But it seems to me PSG saw a flaw cashed in to the unlucky Germans who found the flaw and wanted to offload? WJ has a decent point and could be the problem but would ask the question why Nantes are not getting him looked at? Ould love to know what Pricey has written in his report on Big Kev and why we ditched him? Remember Pricey wrote a report about Cuisance and why we pulled out of that deal. Reall feel for the lad
I saw in a recent interview with the Nantes Manager. He believes JKA is only playing at between 30-40 percent fitness. What I want to know is who scouted him to ensure he was in a fit state a) to play for us and b) clause to buy him permanently. We either did the business out of desperation or the scout needs to be sacked.
Matt this is the bit everyone has been chasing and we knew he wasn't fit as he hadn't been playing, but a professional athlete should be k in shape quickly. Nobody at fault here except maybe Leipzig JKA came up through the ranks of the mighty Paris St Germain (PSG) and alongside his best mate Kylian Mbappe they were ripping defences apart and scoring goals for fun. His record for PSG B was awesome playing 38 times and scoring 22 goals. He was selected to play for France at all age levels: France U16 played 7 scored 2 France U19 played 13 scored 12 France U20 played 6 scored 5 France U21 played 9 scored 5 Played 35 scored 24 goals = a goal every 1.4 games and a better record than his mate Mbappe
Just under estimated Bielsa, probably joined thinking he would get minutes on the pitch and the more he played the closer he would get to being fully match fit. I'd guess he also under estimated the Championship seeing it as a lower tier league. He then joins, reality sets in that he isn't going to get on the pitch until Bielsa considers him up to what he believes should be match fit and his head drops. Let's be honest, he would have probably got game time in any other Championship team, it's just Bielsa does things differently and whilst we have him in charge, the sooner anyone considering joining us realises that it can save us and them a lot of wasted time.
It does however beg the question Rick, why cant he get fit? He has now not been playing or fit enough to play since he left Leipzig. They got rid for a good reason as he had stopped scoring and wasnt fit. He was loaned out to Monaco and only made 10 appearances scoring no goals. We assumed we could get him fit and failed. A player of his ability needs to be fully fit and Im guessing he was also offloaded from PSG to Leipzig when PSG realised he was going backwards. PSG profited from Leipzig by £13m but so far Leipzig are down, Monaco are down and Leeds are down £5m at least. now we also have Nantes who are down as they are paying him a great salary because they got him for free. 4 football clubs are all out of pocket so surely its now obvious this isnt about fitness this is about either mental health or physical health
This really does remind me of Stan Collymore's demons. If so, I have some sympathy for the guy. Oddly enough, I thought I'd refresh my memory about his most famous incident, but couldn't remember Ulrika's name, so got on to Google. I thought it was a very old story, but it seems that Stan has brought it into the public domain again sometime over the last couple of weeks. It's taken him 20 year(ish) to get round to maintaining that he only hit her once, & with an open hand. He called on any journalists to confirm he was right, gambling that none would have been in the tiny backroom at the time. Wrong! One was there & has now published the full story. As you might expect, Stan doesn't come out of it too well. I never knew about the Scottish barman's involvement & commend his actions. Have a wee read (being the Sun, it won't take long) ..... https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/n...uth-about-night-stan-hit-ulrika-i-saw-it-all/
Speaking of PSG this story doesnt want to go away. Back innthe Summer Julian Draxler was a name being pushed and a player Orta and Bielsa like. Surely a bit of a joke as Draxler is a worldy and earning a fortune, but not being selected much by Thomas Tuchel. 3 weeks ago Draxler was mentioned again in the French press bu since Pochetino has taken over and he has a relationship with Fabrizio Romano who happens to have also been pushing Leeds and Draxler together. Draxler is on £130kpwk, but if Pochetino doesn't offer him the contract he wants he becomes available on a free. Romano says Leeds may loan him for the rest of the season, to give Pochetino time to gather his troops as he already has Mbappe Di Maria, Kean, maybe Messi coming but also has Neymar Jr, Navas, Icardi etc. Romano says Leeds will be willing to pay him up to £20m over 3 years in wages because for that they get a player who would be valued at up to £40m. It sounds stupid but Draxler is a world class player who is a world cup winner and has played for Germany 56 times yet still only 27yo. He has played 98 times for PSG. 119 games for Schalke and 34 games for Wolfsburg. He has also scored 36 league goals.
Romano has updated the stiry and say Draxler is in £120kpwk but Leeds will only deal if he comes on loan now. They refuse to pay a transfer fee as the only way they can make the deal work is by paying him £6.24m per year for 3 years = £18.7m over 3 years and still have a valuable asset at the end or someone who could be worth £30m to £40m 2 years into the deal
Was thinking earlier that there would normally be thousands of Leeds fans hitting the roads this morning on their way down to Crawley. It would be interesting to hear about the huge savings people like Heidi have made over the last year, it must be vast. We can get around 8,000 fans travelling and indeed for fans like Jammy who travels North for home games. when you think about it, if one person from Leeds has saved only £500 multiply that by 8,000 = £4m. This number gives you an idea just how much money has been taken out of the football economy, when you multiply that by every football club.
Latest quote It’s not decided by Pochettino yet, but Pochettino asks for some days to decide about these kind of players that were not playing, like Draxler. So in the first meeting he had with Leonardo he said, ‘Give me some days to decide about these players and then we will decide if (we are) selling them’. For sure, Leeds are looking for this kind of player, at Draxler, at Rodrigo de Paul, but they won’t spend like €35 to €40 million (£31.54 – £36.05 million) for this kind of player. So it will be an opportunity if Paris Saint-Germain will decide for example, to send Draxler on loan, they will consider this kind of opportunity. If not, I think it will be difficult.
