CAS to rule on Augustin case

Adam Pope, BBC Radio Leeds

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will sit in Switzerland today to decide if Leeds United will have to pay RB Leipzig a transfer fee of 21m euros (£18m) for striker Jean-Kevin Augustin.

The Whites have appealed to CAS after a Fifa ruling that they must honour the agreement in place with the Bundesliga club.

United signed Augustin on loan in January 2020 - covering his salary thought to be over 90,000 euros per week - with an obligation to buy on a five-year deal if the club won promotion to the Premier League, with the transfer fee to be paid in three instalments from September that year.

With the Championship season interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic and not completed until July that year (when Leeds won promotion), the Whites argued that Augustin's contract should have reverted to his German host club.

The Frenchman, who now plays for Nantes, only featured for 48 minutes across three substitute appearances for Marcelo Bielsa's side as he struggled with fitness and injury.

Leeds had concerns about his fitness and also argued that financial restrictions caused by the pandemic meant they could not meet the fee.

The Bundesliga club took the matter to Fifa and in June 2021 got a ruling in their favour.

Leeds were told the first instalment had to be paid - less a solidarity payment - with interest backdated to October 2020. They were warned that failure to pay the relevant amounts could result in a transfer embargo.