Irish defender Jake O’Brien (22), who arrived at Olympique Lyonnais earlier this summer from Crystal Palace, has he wants to help “get the club back to where it should be.”
Lyon are a household name in French football and were competing in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals as recently as three years ago, however, Les Gones have since fallen from their perch. OL are currently bottom of Ligue 1, and are winless so far this season.
The club are in crisis. Having sacked Laurent Blanc in September, Fabio Grosso made a return to the club, but he has yet to inspire an upturn in form and results. Within this context, tensions are already rising. According to L’Équipe, the Italian cancelled training earlier this week as he sought to find a mole within the dressing room after RMC Sport’s Jêrome Rothen relayed murmurings of discontent eschewing from the squad.
O’Brien has started Lyon’s last three matches. The former Crystal Palace, who arrived at the Groupama Stadium for a reported €1m fee, was not expected to feature prominently for the club this season, and the expectation was that he would be loaned out to one of the other clubs within the Eagle Football multi-club family.
However, O’Brien is beginning to feature prominently, and he told the Ligue 1 Show that he is looking to lead Lyon back to the top. “I want to stay here, I want to be part of the club, I want to make great memories here and get this club back to where it should be,” said the Ireland youth international.
He added, “I think for now, just getting the club as high up the table as we can and get off the bottom, because I mean it’s not good enough for a club this size. We need to be challenging at the other end of the table, and I think we will be because we have great players here and it is only a matter of time.”
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
