Lewis O’Brien would have been preparing to face Brentford this weekend and trying to help Nottingham Forest in their Premier League survival fight had it not been for a registration issue that meant his January deadline day move to Blackburn did not go through in time. This was compounded by the arrival of Jonjo Shelvey at Forest completing Steve Cooper’s 25-man squad. O’Brien has not been told why his Blackburn loan failed to complete in time, but has been assured Rovers did want him. In the month afterwards, as Blackburn launched an ultimately unsuccessful appeal, O’Brien trained back at Forest, knowing there was no chance of him playing. Fortunately, Wayne Rooney stepped in with a loan deal to DC United in the Major League Soccer, which gives the MLS club an option to buy. O’Brien made his debut on 9 April and scored the winner against Montreal the following weekend. This week’s US Cup win against Richmond means DC United have won three successive games for the first time since October 2020.
O’Brien still sees a future for himself at Forest despite the club’s mass recruitment campaign. He believes he can still offer something to the team and wants to prove that he can play in the Premier League every week. He is grateful to Wayne Rooney and DC United, but ultimately wants to be the player that Forest signed. He still watches all the games and speaks to some of the lads, but knows that any newly-promoted club will find it tough. He is determined to do what is necessary to stay up and head down and graft it out.