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Everton summer arrival Jake O’Brien has insisted that he was well aware that he needed to have patience to get a proper run of games and insisted he will try to grab the chance with both hands when the opportunity arrives.
The Toffees paid a significant £17m in the summer to acquire the 23-year-old Ireland central defender from French side Lyon.
His game time at Goodison Park, though, has been very limited as he started only two EFL Cup matches and has clocked only 26 minutes in the Premier League under boss Sean Dyche.
The likes of James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite and Michael Keane are all ahead of him in Dyche’s centre-back pecking order.
O’Brien, however, is not losing his sleep as he insisted that he knew that he was not going to be a first-team name instantly when he agreed to join the Toffees and was aware he needed to be patient.
“I knew coming here [Everton] I would have to be patient”, O’Brien said on Everton TV.
“I know like the other clubs I have been at, being patient is something that is a part of it.
“And once I get my chance hopefully I will grab it with two hands and go from there.
“The Premier League is the best league in the world, the pace of the game, the physicality.
“I know I have not played much of it but you can see just from the line that it is very fast and it is a great league and has great players.
“So, I suppose the quicker I come in, the more I look forward to it.”
Now it remains to be seen if O’Brien’s patience and his performances in training sessions will be rewarded with more game time soon in the campaign.
