Lewis O'Brien has admitted he is 'absolutely gutted' as his move from Nottingham Forest to Blackburn was called off.

The midfielder joined the Reds in the summer and after initially being part of Steve Cooper's plans he has quickly fallen out of favour.

With new arrivals knocking him down the pecking order in January, it was expected that O'Brien would leave but Rovers failed to complete the paperwork in time and he had subsequently not been named in the Forest 25-man squad.

Therefore, Blackburn had appealed to get the move sorted outside of the window but they have been turned down and official confirmation came on Wednesday night that an independent arbitration panel has rejected the last appeal.

And, taking to Twitter, O'Brien reacted to the update with an honest response.

"Absolutely gutted about the decision. Will come back stronger."

As mentioned, with O'Brien not registered to play for Forest this season, he will have to watch on as Cooper's side look to secure safety in the Premier League and won't be able to play again, in English football at least, until the next campaign.

The verdict

It's no surprise that O'Brien is disappointed by this as he is now going to have to spend the next few months not playing games and that must be hugely frustrating or any footballer.

As well as that, this was nothing to do with him so it is a real shame that he is going to suffer for it.

But, it's happened now and, as he says, it's about coming back stronger and he will be hoping to get a move sorted quickly in the summer as it's clear he has no future at the City Ground.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.