It will be a vastly different Leeds United team to the one that last graced the Premier League, with all of the old guard since moving on.
The task at hand in the Premier League is survival, but there are also a number of Leeds players out of contract. Others need to be tied down to longer deals than their current ones, including new deals for Dan James and Ethan Ampadu among others.
Leeds United have a new-look leadership group after the likes of Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling, Stuart Dallas, and Adam Forshaw were the experienced heads forming a large portion of the leadership group at the club in 2023.
They have all since moved on or retired, but the latter has actually had three clubs already since leaving Leeds. None of them have brought Forshaw much success in that time, mind.
Photo by Rich Linley - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Rich Linley – CameraSport via Getty Images
Adam Forshaw released from Blackburn Rovers
Some players were not at the required physical level any more for Leeds, which is true of a number of the current squad on both a physical and technical level beyond this Championship campaign and into the Premier League in 2025/26.
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.
That allowed Pablo Hernandez to operate on one of the flanks with Jack Harrison on the other, or Ezgjan Alioski or Helder Costa in some instances.
Leeds were at their best in that period but persistent injury issues held Forshaw back from ever being a regular with Leeds in those latter seasons. The former Bielsa favourite has since left the club after five-and-a-half seasons at Elland Road and turned out for the likes of Norwich City, Plymouth Argyle, and Blackburn Rovers.
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His injury issues haven’t been as pronounced of late despite being well into his 30s and now aged 33. He terminated his contract with Norwich to join the Pilgrims, and the same has occurred with Plymouth to join Blackburn.
With Blackburn, 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 none of that was enough for him to remain with the club.
📰 Blackburn Rovers' retained list has been confirmed following the end of the 2024–25 season.
Thank you to all departing players for your contributions and commitment to #Rovers. We wish you the very best in your future careers 💙
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— Blackburn Rovers (@Rovers) May 19, 2025
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Forshaw has been released alongside first-team players such as Dilan Markanday and Jack Vale. The 33-year-old will now have to look elsewhere if he is to remain playing.
Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images
Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images
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 Bielsa praised in October 2019.
Speaking via The Yorkshire Evening Post, Bielsa said: “Forshaw is a player who, when he has played, he is always between the better players of the team.
“He has a feature that is very difficult to get. He defends similar to Kalvin, he attacks similar to Klich.
“What he does close to Phillips doesn’t impede, it is not a problem for him when he goes close to Klich to attack. You are not going to find a lot of players with this kind of characteristic.
“Always Adam when he plays is one of the players who runs more and not just in total distance, in sprints in high intensity.”