Leeds United confident Lewis O’Brien deal will get completed
Leeds United are confident that they will be able to prise Lewis O’Brien from local rivals Huddersfield Town before the conclusion of the summer transfer window.
The Premier League outfit have been in hot pursuit of the 22-year-old for a number of weeks now as they eye midfield reinforcements following the departure of Pablo Hernandez at the end of last season.
Transfer specialists Dean Jones and Pete O’Rourke spoke about the Englishman’s situation in a video posted on the Oddschanger Twitter account.
“I know they looked at [Josh] Brownhill at Burnley as well, that was one of the guys they enquired about,” Jones said.
“They do seem, from what I understand, pretty confident over O’Brien now. I know there’s been a little bit of competition in the last few days for his signature but yeah, it sounds like it’s going to happen and I think it would be a good fit for Leeds.”
O’Rourke added: “My understanding is [Marcelo] Bielsa wants it done pretty quickly, he wants him part of his squad to get him used to how he plays and the only sticking point so far is the asking price from Huddersfield but there is a lot of confidence inside the Leeds camp to get that deal done before the window slams shut on August 31st.”
No rush
Leeds may want to get him in the door as early as possible to help him acclimatise to Bielsa’s methods, but it’s not as if he is match-ready and able to come in straight away and make a massive difference.
O’Brien has been out of action recently after isolating following a positive COVID-19 case.
He returned on Tuesday after missing two games but failed to last the full 90 minutes and would surely struggle to immediately adapt to El Loco’s demands.
Leeds host Everton at Elland Road on Saturday before a midweek League Cup clash against Crewe Alexandra, with the Whites seeing out the month away to Burnley on the 29th.
After that, the Whites are not back in action until September 12th due to the international break, and thus that time off will allow any new signings the chance to get up to speed.
Bielsa wants a deal wrapped up quickly for O’Brien, but it’s not a huge worry if nothing gets sorted in the next few days, as long as he, or another midfielder, does eventually sign before the transfer deadline.
In other Leeds United news, Gary Neville delivers ‘Unbelievable’ Whites player reaction after Manchester United defeat.