£10m Nottingham Forest loanee makes the Team of the Week after yet another impressive display
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Nottingham Forest cleared the decks to the tune of over 20 departures during the summer transfer window.
The Reds focused on getting players out of the door, with just 11 new faces being signed by the club during a meticulous summer.
Forest went for a quality-over-quantity approach for the first time since winning promotion to the Premier League in a refreshing change of pace.
Nuno Espirito Santo now has a number of options to choose from across the pitch and there really is no excuse not to kick on this season.
The Forest head coach had a look at a few options in the summer but ultimately made big calls on some players as the pre-season campaign progressed.
That led to over 20 players leaving the City Ground and the squad these days looks far more streamlined than it has done in previous years.
Lewis O’Brien stars for LAFC and makes Team of the Week
It’s been a good fortnight for Lewis O’Brien as he looks to prove himself in Los Angeles.
A couple of weeks ago he was present as LAFC were crowned National Champions and he can claim to have won silverware with his current loan club.
Now, he’s been in the thick of the action again and has been named in the MLS Team of the Week.
He registered an assist during the contest as LAFC defeated Cincinnati 2-1 to claim a much-needed victory in the MLS.
Who Scored shows that he made two key passes during the game along with a couple of tackles and two interceptions.
O’Brien has bounced back with aplomb after a recent red card in the local derby against LA Galaxy and he’s clearly looking to make up for that incident.
O’Brien has been desperately unlucky at Forest
Perhaps the unluckiest player since Forest won promotion to the Premier League is midfield maestro O’Brien.
He made a £10 million move from Huddersfield shortly after Forest had beat the Terriers in the Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley.
In the first half of the 2022/23 campaign, he made 14 appearances but then was struck down by an illness that kept him out for a little while.
He was then left out of the 25-man squad for the second half of the campaign and was loaned out to D.C. United.
Last season he couldn’t earn another chance to shine and ultimately ended up on loan at Middlesbrough – where he broke his leg!
O’Brien earned praise from Michael Carrick for his desire to get back and he did prove a useful player for Boro across the season.
The midfielder featured for Forest in a pre-season friendly at Chesterfield under Espirito Santo – but it was soon evident that he wasn’t in the club’s plans for the campaign.
Now, he’s trying to prove himself with LAFC and it does appear to be a case of so far, so good for the midfielder.
He’s rubbing shoulders with the likes of Hugo Lloris and Olivier Giroud which he won’t be taking for granted.
What the future holds for O’Brien remains to be seen. He’s only 25 and next summer he will still have a single year to run on his contract with Forest.
