One of the biggest sales of the Lyon summer transfer window, Jake O’Brien, is unable to establish himself at Everton for the moment. The move to England does not go as planned for the Irish player.
It’s a transfer that brought in a nice sum of money for Olympique Lyonnais. After just one season in the Rhône, Irish central defender Jake O’Brien joined the Premier League and signed for Everton, for an amount of around 30 million euros. The Toffees, engaged in the race to remain, needed a player who could strengthen the defensive sector but for the moment, O’Brien has not benefited from enormous playing time since his arrival. Indeed, the 23-year-old has only played one Premier League match this season and is struggling to demonstrate to his coach Sean Dyche that he has the level to establish himself sustainably in the starting lineup. An inevitably difficult situation for the Irishman to accept, but if the player’s situation does not improve by January, Everton management could look into recruiting another player in the same position.
Everton ready to buy a new defender this winter
Not playing important matches is necessarily frustrating, especially since Jarrad Branthwaite, usual starter at central hinge, is currently injured. For the moment, Jake O’Brien is a starter in the League Cup and he participated in both of the Toffees’ matches in this competition, even providing an assist. Not enough to change Dyche’s mind, who doesn’t play him in the Championship. Journalist Graeme Bailey believes that if the situation does not improve, Everton will scrutinize the transfer market very carefully next January: “Some people at the club are wondering why O’Brien hasn’t had his chance yet. If we don’t see more of him by January, will management look at a defender? It’s a possibility that I wouldn’t rule out.”he said. Everton will have to manage the possible problem with O’Brien as best they can, and the defense will have to be solid if the Toffees want to hope to stay in the elite for another season and thus maintain their status as the team with the most presence in the premier league. division in the history of English football.
At the same time, OL must still say that this sale represented enormous financial added value, and that the career of the defender-scorer revealed in Lyon does not, for the moment, give too many regrets to Lyon supporters.
