Leeds United striker Jean-Kevin Augustin is yet to be handed his first league start under Marcelo Bielsa, struggling to make any telling impact so far as he replaces Patrick Bamford.

With Eddie Nketiah recalled by Arsenal in the early days of the January transfer window, Leeds were pressed to find a replacement up front to provide healthy competition to Bamford in the lone striker role.

It took until the last week of the window for Leeds to find the player to fill that void and they landed on RB Leipzig striker Jean-Kevin Augustin, who had his loan terminated at AS Monaco over a lack of game-time in the first half of the season.

With the Augustin struggling to make an impact in Ligue 1 below Wissam Ben Yedder in the pecking order, he lacked match fitness when he made the switch to Elland Road. It was a major talking point when Augustin arrived about whether he would make his debut for the Whites right away and then how long he’d have to wait for it if not.

His first minutes in a Leeds shirt came in the disappointing 2-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, where he replaced Bamford and had little impact on proceedings. He’s since made two very similar appearances under Bielsa against Brentford and Bristol City as Leeds have managed to get their automatic promotion charge firmly back on track.

Marcelo Bielsa has been adamant since the Frenchman’s arrival that it will take time for him to build up the necessary level of fitness for him to make a telling impact in games, where such a high intensity is required.

It’s clear from outings so far that Bielsa was right to keep faith in his process for the striker’s road to fitness, based on his numbers so far…

With three substitute appearances under his belt so far, the 22-year-old striker has managed 64 minutes in the Championship so far, each time seeing him replace Bamford late into the game in a like-for-like swap.

In that time, he has failed to find the net and Leeds as a whole haven’t scored whilst he’s been on the pitch, scoring just two goals in those three games. He has managed a success rate of 25% for his total actions on the pitch, not really pulling up trees in his quest for a first league start for the Whites.

In more detail, he has mustered two shots for Leeds in his three appearances, both being off-target. One of the key things that Bielsa will be eager for Augustin to get to grips with as quickly as possible is being able to find space and create chances against teams that will sit deep and pack the penalty area to stop shots going in. So far, it’s seemed like Augustin has struggled to find the intricate part of his game to create an opening in a crowded penalty area.

His best chance at goal for Leeds came on Saturday against Bristol where he had a yard or so of space on the edge of the box and used the defender’s body to hit a low striker toward the near post, but was unlucky as it slid just wide of the target.

With no goals and only two shots, it’s not surprising that he has only managed an expected goals score of just 0.31, highlighting a lack of activity in the penalty area along with just two touches in the penalty area for the Whites.

One thing that can definitely be highlighted in his play as a strength is his solid passing accuracy so far, with a rate of 80% so far, as he has managed five accurate passes out of seven for the Whites.

It’s hard for a player coming into a promotion-chasing team to immediately hit the ground running get to grips with the style straight away, which makes his ball retention as a lone-striker quite impressive already.

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Being thrust into the action when you’re clearly not ready is going to see him struggle to make an impact against the opposition, which has seen him win just 18.8% of his duels with the opponents, both aerially and on the floor.

While it’s clear from viewing his performances off the bench, these stats prove even more that Bielsa was right to keep his faith in Patrick Bamford while Augustin builds up his sharpness.

There is no doubting that he will come good for Leeds but it’s a patient game for the Whites at the moment as he builds up towards being the striker that everyone knows he can be.