United are incredibly keen on adding Lewis O’Brien, but Forest want to make their money on the midfielder one way or another
- Leeds United’s start to the 2023-24 Championship season has been far from ideal, with multiple off-pitch issues and injuries to first-team players.
- The club is desperate to add new players to their squad before the transfer deadline, especially in the midfield.
- Leeds is keen to land Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O’Brien and could potentially secure a loan deal with an obligation to purchase him for £10 million if they get promoted to the Premier League.
- Leeds United’s start to the 2023-24 Championship season has not been ideal to say the very least, with new head coach Daniel Farke having to deal with multiple issues off the pitch as well.
- The likes of Wilfried Gnonto and Luis Sinisterra have refused to play in recent weeks, there are multiple first-team players out injured at Elland Road and with two points from a possible nine so far, there is a desperate need to add new players to their squad before the September 1 deadline.
The engine room is one area that needs more experienced added to it, and Farke’s midfield options could be about to get a significant boost though should he land his new top target.
According to a report from Alan Nixon on Patreon, United are keen to land Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O’Brien before the transfer window closes.
O’Brien, who has three years remaining on the four-year contract he signed at the City Ground, is out of favour under head coach Steve Cooper after playing 13 times in the Premier League for the Tricky Trees last season and he could now get a move to one of the Championship’s big-hitters.
The 24-year-old had been linked with a move to Sheffield United earlier in the summer, but the Blades signed other midfield targets instead as Forest would not do a deal with a divisional rival.
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Who is Lewis O’Brien?
- Should O’Brien make a move to Leeds then he would be returning to an area in West Yorkshire that he is wholly familiar to.
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Despite being born in Colchester, O’Brien started his career in football as a child at the age of 11 with Huddersfield Town, progressing through their academy to become a professional, although he made his first senior appearance in September 2018 in a loan stint with Bradford City.
O’Brien became an established first-team player for the Terriers though in 2019 and after being a big part of the side that got to the Championship play-off final in 2021-22, he was snapped up by Forest last year in a double deal with team-mate Harry Toffolo for £60million.
He had fallen out of favour though with Cooper after just half a season though at the Reds, and with plenty of midfielders ahead of him in the pecking order for 2023-24 it looks as though he will return to the second tier of English football.
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How much would Lewis O’Brien cost Leeds?
It has always been reported this summer that one way or another, Nottingham Forest would want around the £60 million mark to let O’Brien depart, and that hasn’t changed.
However, a straight purchase isn’t the only way that Leeds could land O’Brien before the transfer window closes for that price.
Alan Nixon has claimed that Forest would be potentially willing to facilitate a loan deal for O’Brien which would include an obligation for Leeds to purchase the midfielder for £60 million at the end of the season – that is if they are promoted back to the Premier League.
It is a similar way that they tried to ship him out to Blackburn Rovers back in the January transfer window, but a paperwork error on the Rovers end meant that O’Brien did not move to Ewood Park and instead he spent a few months in the USA with Wayne Rooney’s D.C. United.
