Well done Christiansen – Leeds United have bagged themselves a bargain with this £4.5m signing

Worth Every Penny! Leeds Have Paid The Right Amount Of Money For Adam Forshaw

Adam Forshaw joined Championship promotion candidates Leeds United this week in a switch worth around £4.5m from rivals Middlesbrough, as the North East side continue to look to trim their squad.

The 26-year-old midfielder has signed on at the Elland Road for the next four-and-a-half years, after having found himself down the pecking order at the Riverside Stadium, particularly since the arrival of former West Brom and Stoke City boss Tony Pulis.

Forshaw’s signing is just the latest addition in what has been a busy window for Leeds just as predicted, with the ex-Boro man becoming the Whites’ fourth new arrival this month.

The deep-lying midfielder follows Oliver Sarkic to the West Yorkshire, who was signed from Benfica last week on a permanent deal, on the same day when Leeds managed to land the long-awaited permanent replacement for Charlie Taylor, Laurens De Bock from Brugge.

We were already aware of the club’s intention to bring in Japanese midfielder Yosuke Ideguchi in December and the 21-year-old duly arrived from Gamba Osaka this month before being loaned out to Cultural Leonesa, a club with a close connection to Leeds.

The signing of Forshaw is generally seen as a good thing for the club, however, what is raising eyebrows around Leeds is the transfer fee. At £4.5m, this is Forshaw’s biggest transfer to date, after being labelled surplus to requirements at the Riverside, having played just 11 times in the Championship this season, averaging 41 minutes per show.

The Liverpudlian moved from Brentford to Wigan for £3.42m back in 2014 before moving to Boro for a sum near £2.4m just four months later. So, have Leeds United paid over the odds for the midfielder? The true answer to that will not be known until the end of the season but for me, the fee is not an issue right off the bat.

If Leeds do get themselves into the Premier League, they will claim that signing players like Forshaw have got them over the line. Surely that is no different to, say Wolves signing Ruben Neves or Boro signing Britt Assombalonga. On that basis alone, Forshaw could yet prove to be a bargain for the club.