Lewis O’Brien is expected to miss some time after injuring his knee and dislocating his shoulder in Wrexham’s 2-1 away loss to Swansea City on Friday night.
Wrexham suffered a defeat to Welsh rivals Swansea City on Friday night, thanks to Arthur Okonkwo’s late error, which allowed Adam Idah to prod home from an empty net for a 2-1 victory.
Prior to that, midfielder Lewis O’Brien replaced George Thomason in the 68th minute, although he only lasted seven minutes on the play before being knocked out by Ethan Galbraith’s challenge.
It has since been revealed that the Englishman suffered a knee injury and a dislocated shoulder as a result of Galbraith’s challenge, which has left Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson understandably furious.
Following the defeat, Parkinson stated: “If you all look at the tackle, which we all will, it’s a poor tackle. It’s high, it’s risky, and I believe he’s very fortunate not to get red.
“He hurt his knee and dislocated his shoulder.
“It’s tough for him because he’s been good for us, Lewis, and he was coming back to a club he was at last year.”
It is unclear how long O’Brien will be away, but it is unlikely to be for a short amount of time, much to the chagrin of Wrexham and possibly to the relief of two other Championship clubs who were interested in the midfielder this summer.
Birmingham City and Southampton were interested in Lewis O’Brien during the summer window.
According to Alan Nixon, both Birmingham City and Southampton were interested in signing O’Brien this summer, who was made available for sale after it was announced that he would not be playing for Premier League club Nottingham Forest in the coming season.
Birmingham had recently been promoted, while Southampton had just been relegated, and both teams were busy rebuilding throughout the summer as they prepared for life in the EFL Championship.
As things turned out, O’Brien ended up signing for Wrexham for £5 million, and he has been a regular in the Welsh club’s lineup since his summer move, but he is now likely to spend some time on the bench.
Instead, Birmingham would recruit Tommy Doyle on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Southampton would sign Caspar Jander from FC Nuremberg, with Shea Charles returning to the squad after a loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday.
With O’Brien’s most recent update, both teams may be glad they chose to pursue other targets after all.
Birmingham City and Southampton will now be relieved after missing out on Lewis O’Brien.
Birmingham and Southampton will be breathing sighs of relief following the new O’Brien discovery.
Indeed, the damage he sustained was not his fault, and if he had joined either of the two aforementioned clubs, there’s a good probability he wouldn’t have been harmed in the same way.
Despite this, both teams may be delighted with their current midfield choices, with Flynn Downes and Jander making an excellent partnership for Tonda Eckert at Southampton, and Seung-Ho Paik and Doyle forming a solid relationship at St Andrew’s.
Wrexham, Birmingham, or Southampton may all make a run for the play-offs this season, with the Championship as tight as ever. If any team can string together a few victories in a row, they will almost certainly climb the table.
The injury to O’Brien will make that task slightly more difficult for Wrexham, who will miss his persistence and aggression in the middle of the pitch.
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