West Brom transfer update revealed on Nottingham Forest player

West Bromwich Albion will not be signing Nottingham Forest midfielder Lewis O’Brien at this point with a potential deal seen as a “non-starter”, according to Birmingham Live.

The Baggies have already strengthened their squad ahead of the new season with Jeremy Sarmiento and Josh Maja coming in.

The former has arrived on a season-long loan deal from Brighton and Hove Albion and the latter has joined permanently, with the latter being a much-needed addition considering the lack of depth they had in the forward department following Karlan Grant’s loan exit.

Albion, however, haven’t been that busy and that’s perhaps to be expected considering their delicate financial situation, even after selling centre-back Dara O’Shea to promoted side Burnley.

And they still look reasonably strong on paper, although they could definitely benefit from adding more depth to their squad before the summer window closes.

What is Lewis O’Brien’s current situation?

Having failed to complete a loan move to Blackburn Rovers in the winter, he made a temporary switch to DC United last term and plied his trade under Wayne Rooney, who was keen to retain him.

However, the midfielder has returned to his home country and his future at the City Ground looks uncertain at this point, having been deemed temporarily surplus to requirements last term.

He may have been part of Steve Cooper’s squad during the first half of last season – but he was left out of Forest’s squad after that and could find his game time limited again during the upcoming campaign.

Jonjo Shelvey may not be a regular starter next term – but Orel Mangala, Cheikhou Kouyate, Ryan Yates, Remo Freuler and Danilo are just some of the players who will be keen to make their mark in the middle of the park.

With this in mind, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see O’Brien move away either permanently or on loan.

With Nathaniel Chalobah failing to secure a move away at this stage, Albion have him, Jason Molumby, Alex Mowatt, Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Okay Yoksulu who can all operate in a central midfield role along with John Swift who can play deeper if required.

However, the futures of Chalobah and potentially Mowatt are in doubt at this point, with the former nearly sealing a move away and the latter not having the chance to prove his worth to Carlos Corberan last season.

But whilst Mowatt is still at the club, he has a chance to force his way into his manager’s first-team plans.

Should West Brom pursue a move for Lewis O’Brien?

Considering Forest forked out a sizeable fee to lure O’Brien away from Huddersfield Town last summer, you feel they will want a decent amount of that back if they did decide to cash in on him before this summer’s deadline.

Even if he goes out on loan, the Reds may want to receive a decent loan fee for the player and with this in mind, it would be a surprise if Albion were able to afford a move for the midfielder.

This isn’t an area they need to strengthen at the moment anyway – and he isn’t even required in an advanced midfield role with Swift and Sarmiento able to play there.

Instead, the Baggies should be taking a closer look at their left-back and centre-back departments to see whether they can add more options to these departments.