Everton are apparently looking at him as a potential replacement for Branthwaite, with whom he shares some traits in playing style.
Perhaps we have a sell on clause, which are all the rage.

I agree with this sentiment. It was only by Edouard’s injury that we kept JPM when two La Liga clubs were circling for his services. O’Brien was a success in Paddy’s U-21 side, helping Swindon to a narrow penalty defeat in the L2 playoffs, leading RWDM to promotion as Champions in Belgium then flogging him off to Textor’s Lyon for a measly £850k with Everton already sending scouts to monitor his progress.

There is something seriously wrong with the way we control the progress of our Academy and young players. Having clawed his way up the ladder into the upper Scottish Premiership with Dundee, Malachi Boateng is now faced with a big step down to L1 Stevenage when his next step should be mid to upper Championship. When this happens performance drops off and the player is written off.

To get their best young players a decent loan position Chelsea give them minutes in First Team matches. This attracts Championship clubs. They also do this much earlier with younger players so that if a player is not up to scratch he is let go. It’s cruel I know but it allows them to assess more players quicker rather than leave them hoping against hope in the U-21s. We should have a strategy for the Academy and bought youngsters rather than the ‘lucky chance’ system that currently pervades.

I’m sure this type of player movement is at the heart of Textor’s portfolio model and the primary reason he wants out!

As he states Palace does not operate that way and I’m glad we found out sooner rather than later because a controlling interest would be catastrophic for the club if Textor got control!