Phil Hay has claimed Leeds United may have to be patient if they want to get a deal done for Nottingham Forest’s Lewis O’Brien.
Hay was speaking on the latest episode of the Square Ball Podcast, where Leeds’ interest in O’Brien was among the topics of discussion.
The Athletic journalist believes that O’Brien is on a significant wage at Forest and if he was to depart on loan, the Premier League club could look to ensure the buying club pays his salary in full.
Alan Nixon was the first to report of Leeds’ interest in O’Brien earlier this week as Daniel Farke continues to scour the market for potential midfield reinforcements.
He says that Forest could look to sell him permanently for a fee in the region of £10 million, or agree a loan deal that includes a buy clause in 12 months’ time.
Hay shares what he has heard on Leeds’ O’Brien interest
Leeds have already spent big on signing Joel Piroe and with Joseph Paintsil and Nadiem Amiri potentially set to follow, a loan deal would make sense if they were to get O’Brien done.
With that in mind, Hay says Leeds may have to be patient over a move for O’Brien due to the potential of Forest asking for full salary coverage at this stage of the window.
He said: “I saw the links to Lewis O’Brien. I was digging into that a little bit and was being told that he is on quite a big wage at Forest and it’s not necessarily clear – I think he will go from Forest – but it’s not clear whether Forest would expect full salary coverage for him if he went out on loan.
“It doesn’t make it easy but these are the things that tend to bend as time goes on.”
O’Brien would represent another impressive piece of business but at the same time, if they have to bide their time in getting a deal done, then so be it.
Ultimately, O’Brien appears to be surplus to requirements at Forest and if they are keen on letting him leave then their demands may ease in the final hours of the window.
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