Leeds United have a new-look leadership group after the likes of Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling, Stuart Dallas, Pablo Hernandez and Adam Forshaw were the experienced heads forming the key dressing room figures in that time.
They have all since moved on or retired, but Forshaw has actually had three clubs already since leaving Leeds. None of them have brought him much success in that time so far.
It’s fair to say it hasn’t been easy for Forshaw since leaving Leeds but it appears there is still life in him yet, even if he is not the same player Marcelo Bielsa loved.
Adam Forshaw’s strange comparison between Blackburn and Leeds
At one stage, Forshaw was seen as an important player when Marcelo Bielsa arrived at the club, with the Argentine preferring a midfield of Kalvin Phillips and Mateusz Klich as his most balanced side during the promotion campaign of 2019/20.
He’s recently been with Blackburn Rovers, where he started just five games. However, Forshaw did score his first goal in nine years when he bagged in a 2-0 win against, ironically, Plymouth. Kalvin Phillips congratulated Forshaw on that feat.
But it then looked as though Forshaw would be leaving Blackburn when his contract expired this summer. Since then, the midfielder has penned a new one-year deal at Ewood Park to remain for the 2025/26 season.
However, speaking about that fact, Forshaw revealed his thoughts and they may have some Leeds fans somewhat bewildered. The Leeds teams from 2018-2021 were upheld as some of the best characters who connected with fans in the process.
Per the above, that group do not stick out to Forshaw as a collective and in terms of camaraderie as much as his current Blackburn side.
He said: “I’ve said it ever since I came in, it’s probably the best group of players in terms of cohesion that I’ve ever been part of and it was easy to settle in.”
Leeds teams since have been questioned over the leaders in the group and in terms of the cohesion of the side in terms of the personalities involved.
However, Bielsa’s team were never questioned on that front, which included Forshaw’s presence as a key figure in a close-knit dressing room for almost six years.
Phil Hay explains what made the personality of Bielsa’s Leeds team so important
Back in January 2024, Phil Hay explained as much for The Athletic. He wrote: “One of the things that resonates in Luke Ayling’s recent Instagram posts, or those of him with the Championship title in 2020, is the breed of character around him.
“That squad did not lack much in the Championship, personality least of all. Ayling was a mature and canny cove, and so were the players who show up in his photos: Stuart Dallas, Mateusz Klich, Liam Cooper and more.
“Pablo Hernandez could nutmeg opponents from 10 yards away but offered a thousand times more than sexy trick shots. Gaetano Berardi cut a firebrand on the grass but was a stickler for discipline behind the scenes.
“Their head coach Marcelo Bielsa was averse to leaving anything to chance but he left his dressing room to run itself because it needed no interference; good types, a natural hierarchy and, crucially, streetwise individuals.”
