Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper says questions need to be asked of over how midfielder Lewis O’Brien has been left in limbo after his failed move to Blackburn Rovers.
O’Brien was set to join the Championship side on loan for the rest of the season, in a deal which would also include a purchase clause should promotion be achieved. However, the move collapsed due to an issue over the timing of the paperwork being filed before Tuesday’s 11pm deadline.
It meant the switch was not approved by the English Football League, although Rovers are appealing the decision. Meanwhile, O’Brien has been left out of the Reds’ 25-man Premier League squad for the second half of the campaign, leaving him to face an uncertain future. If Blackburn fail in their appeal, the 24-year-old would have to join a club in a country whose transfer window remains open, if he wants game time in the coming months.
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“Really frustrating. Lewis is a player we like and a player who works very hard, and he’s a good guy,” Cooper said.
“Through conversations we agreed he could go on loan. After making that decision, two things happen - you let the player go and he hopefully has a positive experience, and then you plan around his departure.
“For that to happen, where it was no fault of Nottingham Forest’s - we did everything in very good time and very correct in the process - for him to be let down in the way he was at the end, is a problem that’s ended up back in our training ground.
“I feel for the lad. But we will find some solutions for him. We’ll look after him, we won’t let him down, that’s for sure. We treat our players better than that. Hopefully we can find a good solution for him, because he deserves it.”
Asked who had let O’Brien down, Cooper added: “It wasn’t us, that’s for sure. Even though we’ve ended up with the problem, it wasn’t us. It won’t take a genius to work out what’s happened. I hope some questions are getting asked over there, in Lancashire.
“We will look after Lewis. We won’t let him down. We’ll try to treat him like a professional footballer who works hard and cares about his career. We’ll try to treat him as best we can
“He’s frustrated. Through no fault of his own, he’s embarrassed.
“We made the decision that he could go. It wasn’t a straightforward decision or an easy one. I imagine our supporters quite like Lewis, the attributes he has and the energy he plays with.
“It wasn’t a straightforward decision to let him go, but we felt it was the correct one - not just for him, but also for us, so he could carry on developing - because he’s not that old, even though he has played a lot of games.
“Once you make the decision for our player, you expect it to be respected by other parties. Let’s just say, I hope we treat our players better.”
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