Former Leeds United striker Jermaine Beckford has hailed the work Adam Forshaw has done behind the scenes during his two-year injury hiatus.
Forshaw made his first league start since August 2019 for Leeds in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Leicester City.
A serious hip injury meant the 30-year-old was absent for the majority of the promotion campaign, as well as all of last season, too.
While he has gradually been eased back into the fold over the course of the last few months, he has still had to navigate his way around more minor injury issues.
And all his hard work finally paid dividends at Elland Road on Sunday, as he put in a superb performance that showed no signs of any rust.
Speaking on the Official Leeds United Podcast, Beckford believes the strength of his mindset, as well as the hard work he has put in enabled him to get to this moment.
He said: “If he had not been putting in the work and showing what he is about, capable, his mindset, mentality behind the scenes, everything that we as football fans are not privy to seeing, if he was not doing it behind the scenes, he would not be nowhere near it [the first team].
“But he has been grafting and he has been working super, super hard.
“He has done all the work with the first team, with the physios, he has played a number of games with the Under-23s, he has done really, really well and come through there unscathed as well, but he also had to prove it in training when he is with the first team, when he is with the regular first team.
“These boys have stepped up their levels, they have had to because it is another level.
“This is Premier League football; we are up against the best of the best.
“So, to rub shoulders with them, naturally your game has to improve, and you have to switch on, you have to be quicker, you have to be sharper, you have to be stronger, you have to be mentally aware of positioning and these are things he has been working on behind the scenes and genuinely I do not think there is anybody that is more proud of him than I am.”
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