Norwich City took Leeds United player gamble after Elland Road exit - it backfired | OneFootball

Adam Forshaw's time at Carrow Road was short-lived, and wont live long in the memory of many

There would have been a mixture of excitement and trepidation as Norwich City announced that they had signed Adam Forshaw in the summer of 2023.

The midfielder had managed to establish himself as a key component of many a successful EFL side during his career up until that point, with his performances for Brentford, Middlesbrough and Leeds United earning him plenty of admirers along the way.

With his metronomic passing style in the middle of the park, he was the sort of player that every team needs to keep possession ticking over, while never being afraid to stick a boot in when out of possession at the same time.

But after coming out at the other end of over two years of injury hell at Elland Road, there were more than a few doubts over whether he was still the same player that had been a mainstay in the top two tiers for the previous decade or so, and those suspicions would raise their head again as he made the move to Carrow Road.

There was a point four years before he made the move to Norfolk that Forshaw was doubtful if he would ever play professional football ever again, such was the extent of his injury issues at the time.

Having been a prominent feature at Elland Road during his first few years with the club, Forshaw would go close to two years without stepping foot on the pitch, with his body in so much pain while medical professionals scratched their heads at how to get him back to full strength.

From September 2019 to August 2021, Forshaw failed to kick a ball in anger, before he came out the other side, and got back in action during Leeds’ final two seasons in the Premier League before relegation at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.

That saw his contract at Elland Road come to an end, and Norwich soon came calling, with the Canaries also having their own aspirations to return to the top flight, with the thought being that the experience of the midfielder would help in the engine room, just as he had done so in the past.

But things didn’t quite work out that way, with Forshaw managing to start just two league matches in his time at Carrow Road, with David Wagner unwilling to play him, while a hamstring injury suffered in November didn’t help his cause for first-team minutes.

Adam Forshaw’s Norwich City career come to swift end as Plymouth Argyle swoop

With injuries rearing their head once again, and Forshaw wanting to make the most of every moment of his footballing career after experiencing a lonely existence during his time on the sidelines, the midfielder was back out the exit door just a matter of months after he arrived.

Plymouth Argyle were more than happy to take the experienced campaigner off their hands to help their plight at the bottom of the Championship, with his assuredness on the ball proving influential in the second-half of the campaign.

When explaining the decision to depart Norfolk, Forshaw told the Athletic: “The summer ended up being quite long and frustrating. I didn’t sign at Norwich until the fourth game of the season, with me going on a free.

“So I was catching up, didn’t have a full pre-season with the team and I was living away from my family. It’s a fantastic club, I loved it and loved the people but I was so far away from home and not playing much that I made the decision (to leave in January) when I ended up speaking with Plymouth.

“I want to enjoy football as much as I can at my age and if I’m living away from my family, I want to play as much as I can and that was the basis for the decision.”

Whether the move away from Carrow Road was too hasty is open to interpretation, but Forshaw and Norwich seemed to know right from the off that it wasn’t the right fit, and made the early decision to call it quits, and go their separate ways.

It was something of a gamble to sign a player who has had his injury concerns before, but with the player moving on so soon, it won’t be one that the Canaries regret massively, with both parties quickly washing their hands of a move gone wrong.