O’Brien out to follow ESR to England squad
LEWIS ENCOURAGED BY SEEING FORMER TEAM-MATE’S CALL-UP
LEWIS O’BRIEN has revealed he has ambitions of one day playing international football after seeing Terriers team-mates past and present represent their countries.
Scott High has played for Scotland under-21s, Sorba Thomas earned full honours for Wales and former Huddersfield Town loanee Emile Smith Rowe has picked up his first caps and first goal for England.
O’Brien’s chances of reaching that level might well have been boosted by a touted summer move to Leeds United, but the Premier League side were unwilling to match Town’s valuation and the midfielder subsequently signed a new contract at the Terriers.
The midfielder insists he has no regrets about how things panned out – despite admitting it was a little bit of a distraction for him while the transfer window was open.
O’Brien said: “You think it’s easy to block out and that you’re not thinking about it, but it’s always there in the back of your head every day – you’ll see something or someone, or one of your friends or family is messaging you about something.
“But I tried to block it out as much as I could and to j u s t concentrate on my football, which I do with anything.
“No matter what is happening in life, what’s going on, I just try and focus on my personal game and try to play the best for the team I possibly can.
“It was a massive weight off my shoulders when I signed my new contract. In the interview I did then, I went into further detail about how I felt about it and that it was the right step in my career.
“It was a massive weight off my shoulders and just allows me to play freely again for Huddersfield.”
Playing West Brom on Saturday inevitably brought back memories of Town’s famous win against the Baggies last year to ensure their safety from relegation to League One.
O’Brien was outstanding on the day and set up the winning goal for Arsenal loanee Smith Rowe, who since leaving Town has continued his rise to Premier League prominence with the Gunners and scored his first goal for the Three Lions last week.
“When he came on loan from Arsenal, everyone could see that he was an outstanding player technically,” said Town academy graduate O’Brien.
“He’s still very young and for him to get the opportunity to play for England and now score for them, it’s massive.
I think it’s every footballer’s dream to play for their country and that’s something I’ll be looking forward to
“Anyone can look at that pathway and think they can follow it. I think it’s every footballer’s dream to play for their country and that’s something that, hopefully, I’ll be looking forward to.”
It was put to O’Brien that he is a figure that Town youngsters like Scott High might look up to as an example, but he gave a typically grounded yet ambitious response, saying: “Personally I don’t see myself as the person that Scott High and all those people should look up to. Maybe in and around the club, yeah, but I’ve not really gone on to do anything apart from that.
“Scotty’s now played for the under-21s in Scotland, which is massive for him personally, and he’s now getting his feet in the professional game for Huddersfield.
“So seeing the players in and around you that do go on to great things like playing for their country and playing well for their club is a massive thing, but personally I’m looking to do that from other people.
“Hopefully I can do that and they can look up to me.”
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