Swansea City fans have their say on Lewis O’Brien’s debut after leaving Nottingham Forest

Add as preferred source on Google

Lewis O’Brien departed the City Ground again on transfer deadline day with Championship outfit Swansea City the latest club to benefit from his Nottingham Forest situation.

O’Brien signed for Forest in the summer of 2022. It proved a double blow for Huddersfield who lost to the Reds in the Championship Play-Off Final and then watched on as O’Brien and Harry Toffolo were pinched from them.

The 26-year-old made 14 appearances for Forest during the first half of the 2022/23 campaign. He gave a good account of himself but was omitted from the 25-man Forest squad when it came to resubmitting the list of players in the New Year.

O’Brien has since been to the MLS twice, playing for D.C United and Los Angeles FC, and also spent a season on loan with Middlesbrough with none of the clubs who took him on loan able to sign him permanently.

Now, O’Brien is at Swansea and he was thrust straight into the starting eleven by Luke Williams yesterday. He helped the Swans claim a first win of 2025 and it would appear that his performance was deemed satisfactory by the fan base.

• READ MORE: Jamie Carragher hails Nottingham Forest star

Swansea fans react as Lewis O’Brien stars for Swansea City

Josh Tymon scored the only goal of the game as the Swans claimed a big win over Bristol City. It was, however, the performance of O’Brien that caught the eye of the fan base.

With Matt Grimes recently joining Coventry from Swansea, O’Brien has big shoes to fill. As a result, it’s imperative he got off to a good start and showcased to everyone what he’s capable of.

One fan posted on X: “3 points, Vigouroux masterclass and Lewis O’Brien is very good at football.”

Another enthused: “Lewis O’Brien. What a player. Top class debut.”

It was a performance to be proud of for the midfielder and another posted: “Lewis O’Brien btw what a game he had today!”

Lewis O’Brien stats as Swansea beat Bristol City

It’s not really surprising that O’Brien has dominated a Championship game of football. After all, that’s what he was doing regularly for Huddersfield when Forest chose to sign him.

However, given his lack of game time at this level, it really did defy the type of man that O’Brien is and he will now hope for more minutes as the season goes into the closing stages.

O’Brien’s days at Forest now look to be numbered. As a result, a solid time of things at Swansea could tempt the Welsh outfit into signing him permanently during the summer transfer window.

O’Brien cost Forest £10 million and it feels unlikely the Reds will recoup that. In the grand scheme of things, however, he was a signing that proved a risk worth taking following promotion to the Premier League.