Key Nottingham Forest figure slams Blackburn as fallout from Lewis O’Brien transfer saga continues | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper has admitted he feels for Lewis O’Brien as he blamed Blackburn for the transfer not going through.

It’s no secret that Rovers wanted to sign the midfielder but the deal has been rejected by the EFL as the documents weren’t submitted correctly before the 11pm deadline on Tuesday night.

Whilst the Championship side are appealing the decision, O’Brien is at Forest right now and has not made their 25-man squad, meaning he won’t be able to play for the remainder of the season.

And, speaking to The Athletic, Cooper was critical of Blackburn as he opened up on why the move fell through.

“It wasn’t us, that’s for sure; even though we’ve ended up with the problem, it wasn’t us. It won’t take a genius to work out what has happened. I hope some questions are getting asked over there in Lancashire. We will look after him, we won’t let him down.

“For him to be let down in the way he was, it’s a problem that’s ended up back in our training ground. I feel for the lad. We will find a solution for him, we’ll look after him and we won’t let him down. We look after our players better than that, we’ll find a solution because he deserves it.”

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Radoslaw Majewski

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The verdict

This is a hugely frustrating situation for all concerned and it’s clearly an issue from Blackburn’s end so you can understand Cooper’s comments here.

Of course, the fact he isn’t in the Forest squad list compounds the issue for O’Brien, who is going to have a miserable end to the season as it stands.

But, this is always the risk when you try to do a transfer at the last minute and hopefully the appeal wins even if it seems unlikely.