O’Brien should shun top flight

IT is clear Lewis O’Brien has a Premier League future ahead of him.

He is the kind of player managers love to have in their side – committed, whole-hearted and willing to do the dirty work that ostensibly more talented players sometimes shirk. He is versatile, incredibly professional, a natural leader on the pitch, eminently likeable despite being no fun at all to play against once the game has kicked off and with more than enough talent in his feet to complement his spirit.

O’Brien’s maturity makes it easy to forget he is 21 and only likely to get better from here.

If he does not spent the bulk of his career playing somewhere in the Premier League, then something has probably gone wrong.

But that is all the more reason the last thing he needs to do is rush to get to the top as quickly as possible.

Look at Patrick Bamford, who at 18 was seen as the next big thing after signing for Chelsea just two games in to his career at Nottingham Forest. Now 26, his record in the Premier League is just 27 appearances, one goal.

He has had to drop back to Championship level to almost start his career again, and will get another chance with Leeds next season.

Or there’s another former Forest man, Oliver Burke, who secured a move to up-andcomers RB Leipzip at 19. His promise and talent was such that fans were genuinely outraged that he was allowed to go for just £13m. His big move lasted just a year before he was sold West Brom. He struggled to get into the team even after their relegation to the Championship, and has spent the last season-anda-half out on loan at Celtic and Alaves. And another example, much closer to home for Town fans. Jack Hunt was a star at rightback in the Championship, but leapt at the first opportunity to move to the Premier League when Crystal Palace came calling when he was 22.

The fact he suffered a longterm injury in his first training session for his new club certainly didn’t help - but seven years on, he is yet to make a Premier League appearance. Might another year or two of making themselves better-rounded have better equipped those players to make that step up?

There are more examples besides those three just as how, on the other hand, there are plenty of cases where a player has successfully made an immediate transition from the the Championship to the top flight.

But at least one more year playing regularly in the Championship could do O’Brien the world of good and help him work on the aspects of his game that would set him up for a bigger and better career than already lays before him.

The player himself admits his work in the final third could use some refinement, and if new Town boss Carlos Corberan proves to be everything the Huddersfield Town board hope he is, there will be no better coach in the division to help him work on that.

That would make him an even more attractive prospect for one or two bigger clubs in a year’s time if that is the path he wishes to take - though if he were to stay at the John Smith’s Stadium in the longer term, it would only be a matter of time before the captain’s armband and legend status came his way if he builds on last season’s showings. Also Town will not be in any rush to cash-in on their prize academy graduate. There is a long list of players Town would more readily part with than O’Brien, who has another two seasons on his contract even without triggering his optional one-year extension. That puts them in an excellent negotiating position should any of the reported interest in O’Brien turn into a firm offer but they will join the fans in hoping his Premier League football days will come at Town, not elsewhere.

It would only be a matter of time before the captain’s armband and legend status came his way if

he stays