Sheffield United are keen on signing Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O’Brien this summer. The player is currently on loan with D.C. United and he’s performing well in the MLS.
According to The Sun, the Blades want to sign O’Brien. Furthermore, they feel as though they can land him in a cut-price deal with Forest omitting the player from their squad for the second half of the season.
O’Brien will stay in Washington until the end of the season in the United States. United have games scheduled until July and that could make signing him problematic for the South Yorkshire-based outfit.
Interestingly, Sheffield United tried to land O’Brien in January on a season-long loan. The player chose to sign for Blackburn on that occasion but a loan deal fell through and the 24-year-old was left in limbo.
O’Brien made 14 appearances for the Reds during the first half of the 2022/23 campaign. He signed from Huddersfield for £10 million but was surprisingly left out of the 25-man squad when it was resubmitted in January.
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Now, his future looks to be unclear. It seems as though Forest would be open to selling O’Brien, with Danilo coming into the midfielder in January and making waves at the City Ground.
Forest will likely want their money back though. That could prove to be a problem for United as it’s claimed they could only have £20 million to spend all summer following their promotion to the Premier League.
Carlos Corberan managed O’Brien at Huddersfield. He called him ‘very special’ in December 2021 and he fancies that he’s going to play in the Premier League for many years to come.
Sheffield United keen to sign Forest man O’Brien
It does appear that Forest might be willing to offload the midfielder in the summer. It’s clear that O’Brien wants to play football and clearly, the Reds player will want to be playing regularly.
Forest will target other players during the summer transfer window. That could shunt O’Brien even further down the pecking order at the City Ground and a move does appear to be a realistic possibility.
The Reds’ fan base might fancy seeing O’Brien get another chance. Ultimately, however, it’s down to Steve Cooper and he clearly feels that he’s got better options currently at his disposal within the squad.