Grayson insists O’Brien will never play for Leeds again

The 32-year-old was in line to start against the Clarets at Turf Moor after impressing against Leicester City a fortnight ago in a 1-0 win.

However, Grayson says O’Brien came to see him on Friday and said he no longer wanted to play for United.

The United manager declined to expand on O’Brien’s reasons in the wake of Saturday’s 2-1 win, other than to say the Elland Road hierarchy planned to discuss their next course of action early this week.

Grayson did, though, say O’Brien would never represent Leeds again while he was manager – meaning a parting of the ways seems inevitable.

West Ham United were linked with a move for the former Bradford City defender last week.

Grayson said: “Andy O’Brien came to me on Friday and said that he no longer wanted to play for this football club. It came as a shock on Friday but he won’t play for this football club again as long as I am here. It came as a shock, especially after I have backed him publicly and privately over the last few weeks.

“As manager, I have the right in the early parts of the season to take players out of the team and bring others in.

“I have said that Andy had trained well and did enough to get back into the team against Leicester. He said he didn’t want to play then but I said I needed him to and I thought he played well.

“I don’t want to say too much about the circumstances just now but we will decide internally what happens now and make a statement next week.”

O’Brien has endured a difficult season, starting the first two games but then being jeered by United fans when substituted in the 3-2 Carling Cup win against Bradford City.

After that, he was taken out of the firing line. He did start at Doncaster Rovers in the Carling Cup second round but, otherwise, he usually failed to make the matchday 16.

That changed with the win at Leicester on November 6, his performance being so impressive that his omission from the team-sheet at Burnley came as a major surprise.

Just what prompted O’Brien to tell Grayson he would not play at Turf Moor is not known, the mystery being added to by the defender having been a character who rarely, if ever, has caused trouble for his managers during a career that started at Valley Parade.

On the pitch, United came from behind for a second consecutive season at Burnley to win courtesy of two late goals by Robert Snodgrass.

The victory, Leeds’s sixth in seven visits to Turf Moor, was enough to nudge Grayson’s men back into the play-off places.

Snodgrass added: “Since losing 5-0 at home to Blackpool, we have had two big, big victories. Both Leicester and Burnley did well last season so the games were never going to be easy.

“But we stuck at it and showed our character to get two wins that should give everyone confidence.”