Born on this day in 1993 is Sunderland forward Aiden O’Brien. O’Brien started his career in the youth system at Millwall, and signed his first professional contract on his seventeenth birthday in 2010.
O’Brien joined the lads from Millwall in the summer of 2020 on a two-year deal. Signed by then lads boss Phil Parkinson, he started his Sunderland career playing either on the wing or just behind the main striker. The Republic of Ireland international scored his first goal for the lads in an EFL Trophy game against Aston Villa’s U21 side. O’Brien struggled for a regular place in the starting eleven, and with Phil Parkinson sacked in November 2020, O’Brien still struggled to get in front of more prominent names such as Gooch and McGeady (who was re-introduced by new manager Lee Johnson).
However, O’Brien has made a somewhat promising start to the 2020/21 campaign, scoring a hat-trick in a league cup tie away to Blackpool. O’Brien has been absent from the league squad since then and was then nearly shipped out to Doncaster on the final day of the summer transfer market.
