US surgeon who has worked on NHL, NBA, MLB and PGA stars to operate on Leeds United's Adam Forshaw

The 28-year-old has battled to regain fitness after sustaining an injury last summer that worsened in September, but is now expected to return to action in pre-season later this year.

Forshaw has travelled to the Steadman Clinic in Colorado where he will be operated on by Dr Marc Philippon, who has performed joint-preserving hip surgery on the likes of National Hockey League veteran Ian Cole and San Francisco Giants catcher Aramis Garcia.

Philippon treats painful joint injuries in athletes who constantly use powerful hip rotation and has helped Olympic medallists and PGA tournament winning golfers return to the top of their sport.

Leeds say they have gone down every other avenue, knowing surgery was likely to keep Forshaw out for the remainder of the 2019/20 Championship promotion push.

A club statement said: "Forshaw and the medical team at Leeds United have explored every possible alternative action to try and get the influential midfielder back to fitness to help his team mates as we approach the final stage of the campaign. Unfortunately all parties have now decided the time has come for Adam to go under the knife to allow him to return in time for pre-season."

Forshaw flew out to the States on Monday and will spend a fortnight working with Philippon at the Steadman Clinic.

The YEP understands he initially picked up the hip joint injury in last summer's friendly against Cagliari, but was able to play in the first six Championship games of the season thanks to a modified training schedule.

He first missed league action when the Whites travelled to Barnsley in mid-September, sat out the following game against Derby and then returned against Charlton Athletic on 28th September, coming on as a half-time replacement for Jamie Shackleton.

It was in that game that the injury is believed to have worsened, with a further tear in a tendon close to his hip, and he has been unable to play for Leeds ever since, despite making progress in his rehabilitation - he was expected to return to the grass by mid-January and has had positive weeks along the way, training with the medical team.

The club sought the advice of a number of experts and it was agreed that the injury should be given time to heal, but Forshaw suffered setbacks along the way and has not been able to return to a level of fitness that would have made him available for selection for head coach Marcelo Bielsa, who is a big fan of the former Middlesbrough man's abilities.

Earlier in the season Bielsa credited Forshaw as being one of the club's top performers and top athletes.

“Forshaw is a player who, when he has played, he is always between the better players of the team,” said the Argentine.

"Always Adam when he plays is one of the players who runs more and not just in total distance, in sprints in high intensity.”

What has made the midfielder such a big miss for Leeds United is the control he gives them in games and his ability to defend and attack without hindering specialists in those areas, like Kalvin Phillips and Mateusz Klich.

“He has a feature that is very difficult to get," said Bielsa.

“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."

And Leeds will not be able to count on him for the final 14 games of the Championship season.

Bielsa has used Jamie Shackleton and winger-turned-full-back Stuart Dallas in midfield this season, but the return of Phillips on Tuesday night in the 1-1 draw at Brentford allowed Dallas to play at left-back, with Klich and Pablo Hernandez in more advanced central roles.

The hope, for the Whites, is that with whoever Bielsa opts to play in the middle of the park, they can accrue enough points to ensure that when Forshaw does return to league action, it's in the Premier League.