Middlesbrough FC midfielder and ex-Huddersfield Town and Bradford City favourite on prospect of returning to Boro

The former Huddersfield Town midfielder, who also enjoyed a productive loan spell at Bradford City earlier in his career, has two more matches to fulfil before the end of his season-long stint at Boro from Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest.

The 25-year-old has made an impressive belated impact on Teesside, after being out for five months after sustaining a nasty Achilles injury early on in his loan last autumn.

He has two years left on his season at the City Ground and it is unclear whether he would be in Forest's plans if they stay up, having been afforded few real opportunities in the East Midlands.

Should Forest elect to cash in, then there's likely to be plenty of interest in the player among leading Championship sides ahead of next season.

Any successful purchase of O'Brien would represent a significant financial outlay, more especially for a club like Boro who are not in receipt of parachute payments.

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On his future, O'Brien, who caught the eye in Monday’s game with Leeds, said: "I don't have a clue, I'll have to see what happens in the summer.

"I've really enjoyed my time here and the time I've been playing. If it's the right time and the right things fall in place, I'd obviously love to come back here.

"I felt like I had a bit to repay to the fans and players for how much support they've given me throughout the time I was injured to hopefully show them what I can do. Obviously it's a bit little too late at the end of the season.

"It was the first proper injury I've had in my career that kept me out on the sidelines for a while. It was tough but I did all my rehab up here with Boro. It was nice to be around the lads. They've given me a lot of support through everything, through the whole time.

"I still did the rehab here because I knew I'd be back before the end of the season but I didn't know how many games I'd play.

"Like I said, it's a bit unfortunate there was only three or four games left when I started getting into my full stride and really understanding how Michael Carrick wants me to play. Hopefully everyone will have seen that.

"The physios have told me a few times I've done well to be coming back after the injury I had and played as many games as I have. In the last couple of games, it's been getting back to the real Lewis O'Brien and I think it (Leeds game) was probably the best you've seen of me."