‘It’s crazy’: Jake O’Brien, the Irishman at the heart of Lyon’s miracle season

Jake O’Brien arrived at Lyon as an unknown quantity, even to the club’s manager. “Jake? He’s under evaluation” responded Laurent Blanc in late August, a fortnight after the Irishman had signed from Crystal Palace for €1m. “If he has come to Lyon, it is to be second, or third choice. If it is to be fourth then there is no point, for him as well as for us. We will talk. The transfer window closes next week,” he added, alluding to a potentially short stay.

The language barrier didn’t prevent O’Brien from getting the message. “I have never experienced anything like that,” he says. “It was something … different.” It was a rude welcome for the Irishman but it also showed him the scale of the club, the fervour of the supporters and the level of expectation. “Obviously coming to a big club like this, we weren’t in a good position at the time, there wasn’t a great atmosphere around the club and we weren’t playing well either,” he says.

Little was expected of O’Brien, but he earned a place and became a bright spark in a gloomy situation. “Big Jake”, as he is now called in the Rhône region, broke into the lineup at the start of October and has started every Ligue 1 game since, bar one he missed through suspension. He has been the immovable object in a team that has seen significant rotation throughout the campaign.

Bradley Locko of Brest fights with Jake O'brien of Lyon during a Ligue 1 fixture. Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

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