Jean-Kevin Augustin has struggled throughout his loan spell at Leeds United.
The 23-year-old joined the club from RB Leipzig in the January transfer window but he has roundly failed to make any sort of impact at Elland Road.
Indeed, he did not make a single start in the Championship, playing three times in total, against Nottingham Forest, Brentford, and Bristol City.
His appearances amounted to just 48 minutes of first-team action and Leeds have now confirmed that they have decided against extending his loan spell until the end of the season.
However, The Athletic’s Whites correspondent, Phil Hay, has outlined the dilemma facing the club.
Indeed, Bild has previously reported that, as part of the deal, Leeds included a mandatory purchase option of €21 million (£18.9m) provided they are promoted to the Premier League.
And Hay says that option persists.
Replying to a question on Twitter surrounding the clause, he said: “Yes, the obligation is a separate matter.
“Not sure how they intend to deal with that yet.”
Augustin clearly hasn’t made enough of an impression to stay at Leeds and he struggled at AS Monaco too, following his move from Leipzig.
In that spell, he played 13 times for the French club and only scored once.
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
This is a major misstep from Director of Football Victor Orta.
The club clearly felt that Augustin was exactly what was required to take Leeds to the next level and one has to wonder if the club did their proper due diligence.
The 23-year-old has scored just 23 goals in his professional career, across six seasons. That’s an average of 3.8 goals per campaign.
To think that he could jump into the club’s squad and instantly turn them into promotion contenders was always going to be a mistake.
With Leeds currently top of the league, they are likely to have to buy Augustin this summer for a pretty penny.
Indeed, £18.9m is not exactly small change.
They may need to instantly sell him on but one has to wonder who would take him on.