Leeds United snapped up RB Leipzig striker Jean-Kevin Augustin on loan till the end of the season in January, and he finally made his bow during weekend’s loss at Nottingham Forest.
He also featured briefly during Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Brentford, and will now hope to make an impact as Leeds look to return to winning ways when Bristol City come visiting on Saturday.
Patrick Bamford remains boss Marcelo Bielsa’s first-choice striker, and it will be interesting to see if Augustin can pip him to the starting berth anytime soon.
Going by a recent training ground revelation from Kalvin Phillips, though, the Frenchman doesn’t have a chance of leading the line for Leeds right now.
“He’s a big lad. He’s strong, he’s fast. Obviously, he’s a different player to Pat and now we just need to try to get his fitness up there and get him pressing as well as Pat does,” the midfielder told BBC Radio Leeds when asked what he has noticed about him in training.
Bielsa has spent a large chunk of his last two press conferences explaining that Augustin is yet to get up to speed with how Leeds play, partly due to his lack of fitness after playing very little at AS Monaco.
Bamford isn’t the most prolific striker out there, but he knows exactly what the Argentine wants from his target man and continues to follow it to a tee.
His ability to press opposition defenders relentlessly, coupled with his unrivalled work rate sets him apart, and the new boy has to learn quickly.
Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah struggled to understand what Bielsa wanted from him, leading to his limited playing chances at Elland Road during the first-half of the campaign, and Augustin has to put in more hard work if he doesn’t want to end up like him.
He needs to get fully fit as soon as possible, and if he can take his chances by scoring regularly and also become very effective off-the-ball, the starting berth would be his.
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