Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show about all things relating to Leeds United.
One of the topics that Hay spent some time on was Adam Forshaw and when he might return from injury.
The 29-year-old’s last game for the Whites came at the back end of September last year in a 1-0 defeat against Charlton Athletic.
Forshaw went for surgery in February, but he has still not returned to action.
Marcelo Bielsa provided an update on him in September confirming that the former Brentford man had suffered a setback, and Bielsa did not put a timescale on his return.
Hay used a bit of time in the podcast to provide an update on Forshaw’s fitness, and it seems as if he might not be back for some time because he will only play when Bielsa thinks that he is fit enough.
He said: “Bielsa’s the crucial person in this, because Forshaw is only ready to play when Bielsa decides that he’s ready to play – and you can have timescales and you can have projections and everything else, but it all comes down to how fit Bielsa thinks he is, how Bielsa thinks he’s performing in ‘Murderball’ and training in general.
“And you will only know that Forshaw is ready when Bielsa says he is and when Bielsa brings him back into his 18-man squad.
“But if that projection of needing multiple Under-23s games was right, then I think we’re looking at a while longer before he’s properly involved.”
Do you think Forshaw will play for Leeds in 2020?
No, not a chance
Yes, hopefully he can
TIF Thoughts on Forshaw and Hay’s view on him…
It would be fair to say that Forshaw has had a horrible time with injury.
It is such a shame that he has missed this huge amount of time because before his injury last season, he had featured in seven out of nine Championship games, which suggests that he might have had an important role to play for the Whites last season.
However, given that Bielsa thinks that the 29-year-old might need to play quite a few games with the Under-23s, then you can see why Hay thinks he could be out for a bit longer yet.
We feel sorry for Forshaw and hope that his injury nightmare is almost over, and he can play some part in this season for Leeds.