Birmingham City and Southampton may rue Nottingham Forest transfer miss - Wrexham are laughing | OneFootball

Lewis O'Brien is showing his creative class once again in the Championship at Wrexham

There haven't been many better midfield maestros in the Championship in recent history than Lewis O'Brien, and the former Huddersfield Town playmaker is showing that once more, this time at Wrexham.

It was a statement signing by the Red Dragons when they brought the 26-year-old to the club, as he'd excelled not only at Huddersfield, which earned him a Premier League move to Nottingham Forest in the first place, but also in subsequent loan spells at Middlesbrough and Swansea City - the latter coming last season.

Having not played for Forest in two straight campaigns, it was a given that the Tricky Trees were going to want to part ways with O'Brien permanently, and thus prompted a plethora of Championship sides to form a disorderly queue for his services.

Both Birmingham City and Southampton were among the first sides in the second tier rumoured to be interested, but were later put off by the Europa League side's valuation of the midfielder, which was rumoured at the time to be around £8 million.

In the end, it was Birmingham's fellow former League One side Wrexham who secured O'Brien on a three-year deal, ensuring that after four consecutive loan spells, he finally had a place to call home.

And the Racecourse Ground is a home he's settling in incredibly quickly at, to the point where Wrexham's Championship rivals may be regretting not upping their bids for the midfielder.

Lewis O'Brien's electric start at Wrexham

Wrexham have been one of the most exciting teams to watch in the entire EFL so far this season, mainly due in part to the end-to-end nature of their games.

They haven't defended well, but they've made up for it with the number of high-quality chances they've created, and at the heart of that sits Lewis O'Brien.

Only Stoke City's Sorba Thomas has created more big chances in the Championship than Wrexham's new midfielder, according to Fotmob, with six big chances created across the opening seven games.

To add to that, O'Brien is in the scoring form of his life. Throughout his career, the 26-year-old hasn't been too well-known as a goalscoring midfielder, rather one that creates a lot of chances, but so far in the infancy of 2025/26, he's combining both excellently.

The three goals he netted inside the first seven games have equalled his best-scoring Championship season, and he's just one goal away from matching his best scoring total in his career, which he achieved in 40 League One games at Bradford City during the 2018/19 campaign.

It's taken Phil Parkinson's side a little while to get acclimatised to the second tier after being away for over 40 years, but the players they brought in who have clear Championship quality are showing just that, and are helping accelerate that process tenfold.

Wrexham's Championship rivals may already be ruing the decision to walk away from Lewis O'Brien bids

Clearly, only the richer sides in the division would have been able to contend with Wrexham in terms of a transfer fee and then a competitive wage on top of that, as Swansea were unable to tempt O'Brien back to South Wales due to that.

However, the likes of Birmingham or Southampton would have easily been able to compete with a seven-figure fee and then a wage that is estimated to cost Wrexham £17,500 per week, per Capology.

Ultimately, despite a solid loan spell at Swansea the previous campaign, neither Birmingham nor Southampton could justify such a deal at the time, but mere months on, perhaps their stances have changed.

O'Brien is looking more dangerous going forward than ever before, whilst also keeping that creative spark and gritty defensive nature which made him one of the league's top midfielders in years gone by.

And whilst Wrexham likely won't be contending for a fourth consecutive promotion, the likes of Southampton and Birmingham are, and someone like O'Brien could provide exactly what is needed in a tough battle for the top six, or even the top two.

So, whilst both sides may be content with their current midfield pack, perhaps both may be looking at Wrexham with a hint of envy at the moment.