The most costly transfer error Leeds United has ever made was Jean-Kevin Augustin.
Augustin would play just 48 minutes of football after joining Elland Road from Red Bull Leipzig in January 2020 on a loan until the end of the season.
The deal with the Bundesliga team included a commitment to purchase Augustin should Leeds be promoted to the Premier League, which they eventually did.
Although Augustin was still sidelined by injury for Leeds’ entire run-in, the Covid-19 pandemic also caused football to be suspended for four months during that season.
With such little effect and Leeds’ inability to guarantee promotion until July, the Whites tried to claim their duty had expired as a way of getting out of the deal.
Douglas’s brutal Augustin assessment after one Leeds session
Augustin was brought in as a highly rated young player who had come through the ranks at PSG and shown glimpses of what he can do at Leipzig.
Even though Augustin would never play for the team again, Leeds was forced to pay Leipzig £18 million for the agreed-upon fee and an extra £24.5 million to him for the money he lost in salaries after months of court battles.
He effectively cost Leeds less than £1 million for every minute he played for the team as a result.
Douglas’s critical assessment of Augustin after a session in Leeds
Augustin was brought in as a highly regarded young player who had shown glimpses of his potential at Leipzig and advanced through PSG’s programs.
He said: “We were doing some drills with him, crossing and finishing, one of these individual drills. After that training, I called my agent and said ‘who’s this boy Augustin?’. He said he came highly regarded.
“I said ‘I’m telling you right now, he won’t play for Marcelo, no chance’. I just saw how he moved, how he was. He wasn’t a Bielsa player.”
“He obviously wasn’t in his best condition, let’s put it that way. I knew how the training was. I’m thinking ‘you’re in for trouble here’. He was basically cast aside.”