An academy graduate of French club Paris Saint-Germain, Augustin made his senior debut in 2015 and made 31 appearances for the club, scoring two goals, and won eight national honours. In 2017, he joined RB Leipzig for a €13 million fee.
Augustin has also represented France at various youth levels and was part of the France U19 which won the 2016 European U19 Championship. His performances throughout the tournament earned him the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament awards.
On 19 November 2016, Augustin made his first start of the season, providing the assist for Ángel Di María in the 13th minute in a 2–0 Ligue 1 home win against Nantes.[8] He made 13 official appearances over the campaign, and scored the last goal of a 6–0 win at Caen on 16 September.[9] At PSG, Augustin scored two goals in 23 league games and was mainly used as back up to main Strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani.[10]
Augustin scored a match-winning penalty away to Borussia Dortmund on 14 October, becoming the first team of the season to win at the Westfalenstadion.[14] Three days later, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 3–2 home win over Porto in the group stage, Leipzig's first win in the competition.[15] He scored against Borussia Dortmund on 3 March 2018 to help earn Leipzig a 1–1 draw.[16] On 12 April 2018, Augustin scored in the Europa League quarter final defeat to Marseille in a 5–2 defeat, which saw Leipzig eliminated 5–3 on aggregate.[17]
On 1 September 2019, Augustin joined Monaco on a season-long loan deal including an optional buyout clause.[22] He made his debut for the club on 15 September in a 3–4 loss against Marseille in Ligue 1.[23]
On 27 January 2020, Augustin joined EFL Championship side Leeds United on loan until the end of the season,[26] with the club reportedly having the option to sign him permanently for £17.7 million.[27] Augustin revealed that working with Leeds' head coach Marcelo Bielsa was a big factor in his decision to sign for the club.[28] Augustin made his debut for Leeds on 8 February 2020, coming on as a 71st minute substitute for Patrick Bamford in a 2–0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.[29] After three substitute appearances for Leeds, each one replacing Bamford with 15–20 minutes to play, Augustin suffered a muscular injury in late February, which ruled him out for the next three games.[30] He eventually left Leeds at the end of his loan deal, having only played 48 minutes of football for Leeds.[31] Ex-Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford revealed that the lack of playing time, and the reason for not extending the loan deal in light of the delayed season end, was down to Augustin not following instructions from management, and not putting in the required work.[32]
It was later reported that Leeds had the obligation to complete a permanent transfer of Augustin due to a clause on Leeds achieving promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2019-20 season, however Leeds claimed "extenuating circumstances" surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic "nullify the deal".[33] RB Leipzig threatened legal action over failure to complete the deal, claiming "the legal situation is clear".[33] Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa however was quoted as saying it was "convenient" for Augustin to return to RB Leipzig.[33] The disagreement lay with the date specified in the contract which stated that should Leeds have been promoted by 30 June, the clause would have been legally activated, however with Leeds still having six games to play by this date, Augustin's loan period ended and he was released by the club, with Leeds securing promotion on 17 July. Leipzig however argued that under the "spirit of the rules", the transfer should have taken place, as football contracts specify 30 June as the "end of a season", thus the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic should be taken into account. FIFA confirmed on 8 December 2020 that Leipzig had officially filed a claim against Leeds over the aborted transfer.[34] On 8 June 2021, a FIFA court sided with Leipzig and against Leeds,[35] however Leeds appealed this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport[35] providing details on communications between the clubs showing that they had tried to extend the loan deal, which included the dates for the transfer to become a requirement, but an agreement with Leipzig couldn't be reached.[36]
On 4 November 2022, Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Leeds' appeal upholding FIFA's decision "in its entirety" and ordered Leeds to pay Leipzig a fee of €21m (£18.4m). However, Leeds released a statement confirming that they would review their "legal options with a view to an immediate appeal."[37] On 5 December, Leeds released a statement confirming an "amicable resolution of the dispute".[38]
On 10 April 2023, The Athletic reported that Leeds were ordered to pay Augustin £24.5m (€27.9m) in compensation for breach of contract by FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, but appealed the decision.[39]
Nantes
On 6 October 2020, Nantes announced the signing of Augustin on a two-year deal,[40] being signed as a free-agent, with both RB Leipzig and Leeds providing written permission, and relinquishing any claim to Augustin's registration.[41][34][42] On 4 March 2021, Nantes announced that Augustin was suffering from Long COVID.[43]
Basel
On 18 June 2022 it was announced that Augustin would join FC Basel[44] on a free transfer[45] with a three-year deal.[46] He joined Basel's first team for their 2022–23 season under head coach Alexander Frei. After playing in one test game, Augustin played his domestic league debut for his new club in the away game in the Letzigrund on 28 August as Basel won 4–2 against Zürich.[47] He scored his first goal with his new team in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 11 September, in fact he scored two goals as Basel won 5–1 against Grasshopper Club.[48] In the 2022–23 Super League Basel were not very successful, ending in just fifth position in the table.[49] However, they rescued the season with their performances in that season's Europa Conference League. Here they advanced in the knockout phase as far as the semi-final, but here were knocked out by ACF Fiorentina 4–3 on aggregate.[50] Augustin had 20 appearances in the league, scoring five goals and nine appearances in the Conference League, scoring twice.
Basel did not start well into the 2023–24 League season and Augustin was used mainly as a joker. Then, during November the club announced that he had incurred an injury. In the game against Yverdon on 5 November 2023, Augustin tore a muscle bundle in his right thigh and an MRI scan had confirmed this. Augustin felt slight pain during the game and was subsequently substituted out in the 56th minute. Due to the injury, Augustin was out for several weeks.[51] He played his last match of the season on 2 April 2024, when he started in a 0–2 away loss to FC Lugano. He was subsequently left out of the matchday squad for the remainder of the season, as well as at the start of the 2024–25 season. With the signing of Xherdan Shaqiri to Basel on 16 August 2024, he also lost shirt number 10 to the returnee.[52] On 31 August 2024, following weeks of being excluded from team training, his contract with Basel was dissolved by mutual consent.[53]
He was the top scorer with six goals and Player of the Tournament at the finals in Germany in July 2016. He scored in all three group matches, including a hat-trick in a 5–1 win over the Netherlands.[56] In the final at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena, he opened a 4–0 win over Italy.[57] He finished top scorer for France in the tournament ahead of strike partner Kylian Mbappe.[18]
Augustin was chosen for the under-20 team at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea. He scored four goals in as many games, including a penalty in the 2–1 quarter-final elimination by Italy on 1 June.[58] In a group game against Vietnam, he scored twice in a 4–0 victory after missing a penalty by attempting a Panenka.[59]
Augustin plays as a striker capable of playing anywhere across the forward line, with Bundesliga describing Augustin as 'powerful, quick, direct and capable of making things happen outside, as well as inside, the box.'[10]
His former RB Leipzig Head Coach Ralph Hasenhüttl said of Augustin, 'He's the full package. He's going to be a really important player'.[18] in 2016, Augustin was listed by Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as a wonderkid in a list of his top 9 future prospects in football.[61]
^FC Basel 1893 (7 November 2023). "Jean-Kévin Augustin fällt verletzt aus" [Jean-Kévin Augustin is out injured] (in German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 16 November 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^FC Basel 1893 (31 August 2024). "Vertragsauflösung mit Jean-Kévin Augustin" [Contract dissolution with Jean-Kévin Augustin] (in German). FC Basel 1893 AG. Retrieved 31 August 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
