Jermaine Beckford has claimed that Adam Forshaw’s first start for Leeds after over 700 days makes him ‘like a brand new signing’, as he told the club’s official podcast.
The 30-year-old started his first league games for Leeds – since they were in the Championship – over the weekend and helped his side record a 1-1 draw against Leicester.
Marcelo Bielsa played Forshaw for 90 minutes, before taking him off in stoppage-time to warm applause by the Elland Road faithful.
It has been a troubling few years for the midfielder because has had to deal with several injury setbacks and problems.
Despite that tough road, he has come through it as a better player and individual.
But if a neutral was watching him in action on Sunday, then they would have felt that he had been playing regularly for the past 12 months and not working himself back from a long lay-off.
There were no signs that he hadn’t started a league game for so long and that against a team that is in Europe.
Forshaw’s contract at Elland Road expires next summer and Beckford thinks he wants an ‘extension’.
“To know that he has been out for as long as he has,” said Beckford. “To have set-back after set-back and problem, after problem.
“It would have been a breath of fresh air. Obviously, we have seen little snippets of him. He has had little cameo appearances this season.
“But to have started a game against a team as big and as good as Leicester City – and he stood out. He didn’t just blend in. He stood out. It doesn’t surprise me because I know the type of player he is.
“I am so glad that we have managed to get him back now because it’s like having a brand new signing. We have a player who is fighting for a contract. He wants a contract extension and rightly so. But he still has to prove himself.”
With a man like Bielsa in the dugout, there’s every chance that Forshaw will sign on the dotted line and extend his stay in Yorkshire.
One thing Bielsa has always done is back his players and trust them in every situation, however difficult.
If Forshaw himself feels that he wants to stay at Elland Road, then he will have the platform, during these coming months, to showcase why.
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