'He was one of the more well-known players in the world' - Marcelo Bielsa on Leeds United signing Jean-Kevin Augustin

Jean-Kevin Augustin hasn’t yet cost Leeds United the earth, or at least many millions, but he should help fire them into the Premier League.

Bielsa – seemingly always aware of the debate and discussion taking place around his current club – could not have failed to notice the buzz created by the 22-year-old’s arrival, on loan from RB Leipzig, and he wouldn’t be human if there hadn’t been a flicker of temptation to stick the striker on the bench.

Augustin, dressed fully in the clobber worn by Leeds squad players en route to a game, arrived on the team coach and wandered out onto the Elland Road turf, chatting to compatriot Illan Meslier.

But at 6.45pm when the squad was announced, Augustin’s name wasn’t in it. Of course it wasn’t; Bielsa had been almost definitive on Monday afternoon when stating the Millwall fixture was most likely too soon for a player who only signed on Monday morning. Insert joke about six Under-23s games and adaptation periods here.

It’s no laughing matter of course; Augustin is here to help Bielsa’s Leeds United in one of the most important periods of recent club history.

Unleashing the striker when the time is right, when he’s fully equipped and prepared to do the job, is the Bielsa way.

It took previous loanee goalscorer Eddie Nketiah months to get into a position where he was finally considered ready for a starting place in a Championship game. But this time it feels different.

Whereas Nketiah was a good option for Bielsa, from the bench, he was not a player the head coach regarded as a natural fit for the specific lone frontman role Patrick Bamford has made his own.

Augustin appears to be that player.

Bielsa, said by sporting director Victor Orta to be excited about the prospect of getting the Frenchman out of his loan at Monaco and into West Yorkshire, was well aware of Augustin and what he can do.

“He is a player who has a well-known background and trajectory,” said the Argentine.

“Even if he is a young player, when he used to play in the academy he was one of the more well-known players in the world.”

Augustin, who graduated from the Paris Saint-Germain academy and made his professional debut during Bielsa’s first season in French football as Marseille boss, is quick, like Nketiah, but he’s not a striker whose sole focus is getting in the box and poaching goals.

An ability to contribute to the build-up of Leeds United attacks is vital for a Bielsa striker.

“He is a centre-forward with mobility,” he said of Augustin.

“He is involved in the combined play of the team, he has a lot of presence in the box and he is going to be useful for the needs we have as a team.”

Bielsa would not classify Augustin as Leeds’ top target in the transfer window, instead simply suggesting he was one of the options put before him by Orta, all of which were “good”.

But he was the striker Leeds could and did get.

And, crucially, Bielsa believes that his needs, needs that arose with the recall of a pair of loanees, have been met by the club.

“We had to replace [Jack] Clarke and Nketiah, [Ian] Poveda and Augustin resolved this situation clearly.

“Of course, everyone values the efforts Leeds made to resolve the needs of the team.

“This is a support for us and it is very important.”

Something else important, something Bielsa has gone to great lengths to explain ever since Nketiah left, is that he makes no promises to signings.

There may be a sneaking suspicion in and around the club that this loanee frontman fits the bill better than his predecessor, but ‘Big Kev’ will still have to earn his place.

“I never [spoke to the player to convince him to move],” said Bielsa. “For me, the player has to have the wish to be part of Leeds. All the information he needs, the club provides and the director of sport and his staff do very serious work I have never seen before in my career.

“It is not necessary for me to communicate with the player because all the things he needs to come, he can get without speaking to me.

“Nketiah and Clarke both decided to be with us without word from me, making sure they were going to participate.

“I didn’t promise them anything.”