Leeds United will be going into this coming weekend's final game of the regular Championship season overwhelmed with nerves and excitement, hoping that it can be the day where an immediate return to Premier League football is secured.
Daniel Farke's men have certainly shown signs that the obvious stress that comes about with being deep in a promotion race has been getting to them in recent matches, with the 4-0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers last time out weighing heavy on their minds.
Still, the German boss in the Elland Road hot-seat will pray that his troops can get over the line against Southampton regardless, with hopefully most of his first-teamers available to him to put in a promotion-winning performance in front of the expectant Whites masses at home.
Farke thankfully hasn't had to deal with a whole host of injury-prone individuals this season, with this constantly sidelined past Leeds face draining the club dry by the end of his stop-start five years at the club.
Adam Forshaw's transfer to Leeds
Adam Forshaw would come into the building at Elland Road for a bumper £4.5m fee from Middlesbrough in 2018, having impressed the Whites across his four-season stay at the Riverside Stadium before sealing a move to nearby West Yorkshire.
Forshaw would accumulate 103 appearances for Boro before leaving for pastures new in Leeds, garnering a reputation for being a solid central midfielder in the EFL as was also seen in a more impactful spell at Brentford prior with 11 goals and 12 assists tallied up from 100 games for the Bees.
Poached by Leeds in January of the 2017-18 season, the new Whites recruit would initially settle in well with 12 appearances under his belt during his first few months acclimatising to his fresh surroundings.
Yet, his Whites career would soon start to unravel as his injury issues became a more and more persistent issue with everything coming to a head during the 2019-20 campaign under Marcelo Bielsa.
Forshaw would manage to make just seven appearances that season, during what should have been a joyful promotion campaign for the then-Leeds man.
But, a serious hip injury would end up sidelining him for 18 months instead.
Club playing for
Injury
Time out with injury
Leeds
Broken kneecap
69 days
Leeds
Hip injury
560 days
Brentford
Ankle injury
132 days
Sourced by Transfermarkt
The horrific hip issue would result in the 32-year-old being absent from action for a staggering 560 days in total, before a broken kneecap would do more damage when he was back during the 2021-22 season to keep up his wretched luck with injuries and maintain his reputation of being a permanent fixture in the Elland Road treatment room.
During Jesse Marsch's poor Whites reign, there was even a point where doctors close to the football club were left confused by what Forshaw's injuries actually were with medical expert Ben Dinnery stating that this was a major "red flag" when speaking to Football Insider at the time.
For a Leeds career that started with so much promise, with 31 appearances notched up during Bielsa's debut season on the scene in West Yorkshire, there must have been a feeling of 'what could have been' for Forshaw on the end of the Whites when he was released from his contract just last year.
But, with his recurring injury demons one major factor as to why this decision to cut ties was the best and most logical outcome, the former Middlesbrough man's excessive wage was also not justifiable any longer considering all the lengthy patches he found himself out of action for.
Adam Forshaw's wage at Leeds
On top of the £4.5m fee originally forked out to land Forshaw feeling like a steep fee with the context of these injuries coming into view, the £20k-per-week the ex-Boro midfielder earned whilst on the books at Leeds must have burned a considerable hole in the West Yorkshire side's pocket.
When adding up all the money that was unfortunately wasted on the injury-prone Leeds number four, the Whites were drained of £10.7m in total when that cash could have been ultimately put to better use.
When examining the current wage bill at Elland Road under Farke today, Crysencio Summerville amazingly earns £5k-per-week less than the 5 foot 9 dud now even with his heroics for the Whites in recent matches managing to put a smile on the anxiety-ridden Leeds supporters even when full-time results haven't all gone in their favour.
The electric Dutchman's two strikes away at Forshaw's former employers in Middlesbrough in the middle of April took his goal contributions total for the campaign to a very impressive 30 overall, dazzling Championship defences for fun even whilst earning a lesser wage than the injury-prone Forshaw.
Moreover, the likes of Archie Gray and Ilia Gruev also both earn a lesser pay packet than the former Whites face despite amassing 80 appearances between themselves as key parts of the Farke jigsaw this campaign – earning £5k-per-week and £15k-per-week respectively.
The 32-year-old hasn't yet fallen victim to another serious injury like he managed at Leeds moving onto fellow Championship sides Norwich City and Plymouth Argyle after being released, but he still is finding his minutes to be limited and infrequent to see out his playing days.
Still, he won't complain at the millions he managed to rake in whilst playing in West Yorkshire when compared to his lesser Pilgrims wage now even if it came at the expense of his ex-employers.
Adam Forshaw's continued issues
The experienced midfielder has only managed to make 20 appearances for both the Canaries and Argyle since leaving Leeds behind, finding his contract at Carrow Road prematurely ripped up just a matter of months into his free transfer down to Norfolk.
At Home Park now, Forshaw isn't quite burning a similar hole in Leeds' pocket when it comes to wage costs to the relief of the Devon-based club – earning £5k less in salary costs in his new location at £15k-per-week.
Leeds will just be thankful that Forshaw is no longer a problem for them to try and fix, with the midfielder's fitness a constant source of worry for past Whites managers such as Marsch and Bielsa.
Farke doesn't have to put up with this anxiety going into his side's pivotal final day clash with Southampton to his relief, hoping just one more second-tier victory will be enough to seal an instant return up to the Premier League for Leeds.
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