Leeds United owners 'confident' of overturning £25m legal battle

By Kieran Maguire

8th Oct, 2023 | 11:50am

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The 49ers will be confident of winning an appeal in the case between Leeds United and Jean-Kevin Augustin.

That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about Leeds’ decision to lodge another appeal in the Augustin case.

The Yorkshire club have returned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a second appeal case over the £24.5million in wages owed to Augustin.

The 26-year-old striker signed for Leeds on loan in the January 2020 window but played just 48 minutes of football in Marcelo Bielsa’s side.

A buy clause in his contract was triggered when Leeds achieved promotion to the Premier League, but the transfer fell through because of the delay to the season caused by Covid-19.

Maguire believes Leeds’ new owners would not follow through with the court appeal unless they were confident of overturning the result.

Unless they were confident they wouldn’t be wasting money on legal fees and appeal fees,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.

So they will have taken appropriate counsel from their legal advisor and if they feel that they have a constructive case, then they will proceed.

Given that we are talking about a multimillion pound settlement, the legal costs will be high and likely in the six figures.

They will feel that it’s a risk worth taking despite the legal fees.

The sums of money involved are so huge.

It is an unparalleled set of circumstances in terms of the impact that Covid had during that season, so I think it will be an interesting one going forward.

In other news, Kieran Maguire: Leeds United could now reap dividends from loan clause ‘gamble’