Lewis O’Brien enjoyed a decent debut for D.C. United yesterday and after the game, he has spoken about his move. The 24-year-old made the move to the MLS after being omitted from Forest’s 25-man squad in January.
It’s been a frustrating few weeks for O’Brien. He was signed by Forest for £10 million during the summer having been on the wrong end of the Play-Off Final with Huddersfield.
The talented midfielder made 14 appearances during the first half of the season but fell down the pecking order. He was replaced in the 25-man squad by Jonjo Shelvey and was all set to join Blackburn.
Rovers submitted the wrong paperwork in order to get the deal over the line, however. After a drawn-out appeal process, the EFL announced that the move was off to leave O’Brien in limbo.
Wayne Rooney came along and handed O’Brien the chance to play some games before the end of the season. He will now remain with United until the end of the season and he’s happy to have started.
He told the Washington Post: “I feel like I’m back to myself now, back to being happy, back to doing what I love to do, which is playing football. It’s probably a unique situation, which won’t happen to anyone ever again, and I’ve got to see the positives in it.”
O’Brien has spoken about D.C. United move after debut and Forest will miss him
The midfielder is being sorely missed at Forest. Steve Cooper has made many mistakes during his time at the City Ground but letting O’Brien leave is definitely proving to be one of them.
O’Brien is a little terrier in midfield and he does have some guile too. Forest are missing his ability to get the team playing on the front foot and the hope will be that he can come back next season.
The Reds star has perhaps been harshly treated. He will now hope to prove a point in Washington, although he was unable to prevent United from getting beat during his debut.