Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O’Brien is currently in limbo after being left out of the club's Premier League squad and failing to make a transfer.
O'Brien is one of a whopping 30 first-team signings to walk through the doors at the City Ground this season following their promotion from the Championship.
The 24-year-old impressed for Huddersfield and helped them to the playoff final last term. Ultimately, they came up short in the playoff final against Forest.
Advert
Despite arriving to much fanfare, O'Brien fell to the wayside as Steve Cooper added more players to his ever-growing team.
He's featured 13 times in the league this season, with only six of this being starts. O'Brien decided to seek a transfer on deadline day and was prepared to join Blackburn Rovers on loan.
If they were promoted, he then had the option to make the move permanent.
Advert
The EFL rejected Rovers' application for a transfer as they failed to submit the correct paperwork before Tuesday's 11pm deadline.
Rovers had also hoped to sign Rochdale midfielder Ethan Brierley. He'll be able to play for Rochdale for the rest of this season, at least.
O'Brien has been removed from Forest's 25-man Premier League squad after a slew of signings this month. Forest signed Gustavo Scarpa, Danilo, Chris Wood, Felipe, Jonjo Shelvey, Keylor Navas and Andre Ayew, with Ayew coming as a free agent two days after the deadline.
Advert
Blackburn are ready to appeal the EFL's decision to try and get O'Brien over the line.
Forest are currently 13th in the table after a turnaround in form following the World Cup break. They were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United on Wednesday in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Cooper hopes his players can look at the cup run to reminder them of how far they've come since his appointment in September 2021.
He said: "United over the two legs have been far better than us and deserve to go through, but a couple of ricochets didn't go our way tonight. You have to make your own luck at the same time.
Advert
"We shouldn't lose sight of the fact we have got to a semi-final. How many clubs would have loved to have been on the stage we have been on in the last couple of games?
"It’s the first time in more than 30 years the club has been at this stage. Although it hasn’t gone our way, I’m so pleased that the younger generation of our supporters have been able to walk up to a stadium and see their team in a semi-final for the first time.
"This time last year, we were probably mid-table in the Championship and trying to break into the play-off places.
Advert
"For us to be trying to compete in the Premier League now and get to the semi-final of a major trophy tells us that the club is on an upward projection. We shouldn’t lose sight of that. We’ve got to work even harder every day to try to continue that."
Topics: Premier League, Nottingham Forest
Daniel Marland