Ex-Sunderland striker makes contract admission as Portsmouth weigh up 12 key decisions

O’Brien left the Stadium of Light to join up with Danny Cowley’s Portsmouth on deadline day, joining on a permanent deal.

The 29-year-old had just six months left on his deal with the Black Cats and had struggled for game time this campaign, failing to complete 90 minutes in the league since late October.

Having signed a short-term deal at Pompey, he is one of 12 players whose contracts expire at the end of the season on the south coast.

O’Brien has since admitted that getting back playing regular football was one of the main reasons for his move down south.

But his future beyond the summer remains unclear.

He told the Portsmouth News: “No, I haven’t had any conversations with the club, yet. I’m not sure what’s going on there.

“Obviously I would like to stay, I’ve hit the ground running here and I love all the boys here.

“Everyone’s brilliant but there’s been no conversations yet, but hopefully something will pop up soon. We’ll see what happens."

Earlier this week, O’Brien lifted the lid on his time at Sunderland under former boss Lee Johnson.

He told The Portsmouth News: “It started well, and it just ended so badly. I just needed to get out of there because I was kind of rotting away. The manager here knows that, and he took me on, which I’m thankful for.”

Sunderland return to action this weekend when they travel to Oxford United in League One.