Leeds United's Adam Forshaw on course for August return after further hip surgery

The former Middlesbrough midfielder has not played since September.

The Whites tried to manage the problem without an operation while getting to the root cause, but in February sent Forshaw to Colorado for surgery.

He went under the knife again last week, but remains on schedule for an August return. Quite where the football schedule will be at that stage is unclear.

Football has been suspended until at least April 30 to try to stop the spread of coronavirus, but it would be a big surprise if that date were not to be put back again. If the 2019-20 season is completed, as the authorities hope, it could have a knock-on effect on when the next season starts.

“I underwent surgery again last week on my right side, which will now see me on the mend,” 28-year-old Forshaw told Talksport.

“My idea for returning to play is August which is still the case.”

Forshaw also voiced his support for the wage deferral he and his team-mates have taken in light of the covid-19 suspension.

The decision was made to protect the jobs of all 272 members of full-time staff and the majority of casual workers at the club, and Forshaw thinks the Whites were right to act quickly rather than wait until the situation got worse.

“It stops it becoming even more of a problem in a couple of months time,” he argued.

"It's the right thing to do. I think as players it probably does come as a little bit of a shock to you and like anybody you get accustomed to your own lifestyles.

"The club make a lot of money from home games. We sell out pretty much every home game. To not even just have that (income) alone and the fact that the club shops around the city have closed, it's a lot of revenue that they're missing. As players you've got to think long-term. It's just the right thing to do.

"We're in privileged positions as footballers. Looking at the long-term, nobody knows how long this is going to last. We probably didn't want to get to a point in two or three months where you don't get paid at all. To take these measures now is probably a sensible thing to do.

"It goes beyond football, it's people's lives, people working down at the stadium like the cleaners.

"We're in a privileged position and we've got to look past ourselves at the moment and think everyone has to pull together."

Colin Murray's 52 is sponsored by Grosvenor Casinos.