Wayne Rooney ‘conversations’ could affect Sheffield United chase of Nottingham Forest man

Wayne Rooney has not ruled out the possibility of Lewis O’Brien extending his stay at DC United this summer, amid transfer links with Sheffield United. The Nottingham Forest midfielder is out of favour at the City Ground after being omitted from their 25-man squad for the second half of last season and has previously interested United, when he was at Huddersfield Town.

O’Brien instead joined Forest after their promotion to the Premier League but made only six Premier League starts for Steve Cooper’s men and after a loan move to Blackburn Rovers broke down in January, owing to adminstrative issues with the deal paperwork, he moved to America on loan to Rooney’s side.

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The loan was due for review this summer, with the MLS season crossing over with the English one. All loan deals to the American league contain right-to-buy clauses for certain amounts and Rooney admitted his side were still in “conversations” about O’Brien’s future, speaking recently to the Washington Post.

“It’s a difficult situation because it’s not in our hands,” Rooney added, “but we’re trying everything we can to try to keep him. Of course, we want to bring more players in. We’ve identified players. How realistic that is we can get them in or not is what we’re working on, because it might mean players have to go out.”

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If O’Brien does return this summer then Forest could grant their man a period of leave to rest, rather than return straight to pre-season with them, and may then want a look at O’Brien before they take another decision on his future. It is also understood that Forest are wary of strengthening a potential relegation rival by loaning one of their players, and the power is very much in their hands in terms of a potential transfer value if they were tempted into sanctioning O’Brien’s exit on a permanent basis.

United are also bound by strict Premier League rules surrounding loan deals, with only two domestic temporary transfers available at one time and one from any one rival top-flight club. For his part, O’Brien has not given up on returning to Forest this summer and showing them why they signed him in the first place as part of a remarkable spending spree last summer.

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“I backed myself,” he told the BBC earlier this year. “I knew there were reasons why I had been signed and there are also reasons why other players were getting signed. I knew I was a different type of player to the ones who were coming in and those we already had. You just have to try and impress when you get on the pitch every day.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. I am really grateful to Wayne Rooney and DC United but, personally, I want to prove I can be in the Forest team and I can play in the Premier League every week. I want to be the player they signed.”

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