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Nottingham Forest January transfer plan has already been mapped out amid Murillo interest
It has been quite the few weeks for Nottingham Forest defender Murillo.
First goal in the Garibaldi. Announcing he is to become a father. First time with the Brazil national team. That is a hat-trick to rival any scored by Reds teammate Chris Wood.
It had seemed only a matter of time before the centre-back would find the back of the net for the Reds - albeit in the end it was with a header against Newcastle United rather than a 40-yard thunderbolt. Likewise, his call-up for his country had seemed an inevitability.
Both were very well deserved, and arguably well overdue. But they have also served to increase the spotlight on Murillo.
He was already on the radar of most of the heavyweights of European football; indeed, it would be easier to run through a list of teams who haven’t been linked with him as opposed to those who have. And the speculation has started once again.
A report by the “i” last week predicted the 22-year-old could one day command a “world-record fee for a defender”. They talked of a “bidding war” coming on the horizon.
The likelihood is they are right. Forest will make a lot of money from Murillo in the future; certainly considerably more than the £11 million they paid Corinthians for him in August 2023.
But kicking that can down the road, at least until the end of the season, would be a real statement. Just as it was in the summer.
Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo recently spoke about how, for him, the most valuable aspect of the last transfer window was coming through it with the core of his squad still in place. Star players were retained, despite interest in them from elsewhere.
“I wanted to keep the core of the squad - not only the players in the press for taking attention of other clubs, but all the players,” he said. “If you look, we have achieved that. The owner understood the situation when we were speaking about the next season. It goes back to the identity, it is impossible to build something if you continue to sell players. This was the best move we made.”
A repeat in January would enable the Reds to keep building on the foundations they have put in place courtesy of their very positive start to the season. And the club should find themselves well placed to do just that.
They are going well in the Premier League and look like a team capable of making progress. Moreover, with call-ups for the likes of Murillo and Morgan Gibbs-White they have shown Forest are a club where players can realise their international ambitions. Both of those factors will also help with recruiting players in the future, too.
Murillo is continuing to improve as a player. Having Nikola Milenkovic alongside him in the back line for the Reds has helped to develop his game further. As a partnership, they have been integral to the team’s excellent early-season form.
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It would be no surprise if other clubs come sniffing around the Brazilian in January and he dominates the transfer gossip columns once again. Nuno has already indicated he expects there to be interest in Forest’s prized assets in the new year.
“When the moment comes, we have to be ready and operate as a club,” he has said of the winter window. “But this is the part we cannot control, and January is so far ahead of us that we don’t even think about that.”
The Portuguese is right, of course; the club cannot control who comes knocking. But their run of form has already demonstrated the benefits of rebuffing admirers. Come through January with their dressing room largely still intact, and the likes of Murillo still in place, and the second half of the campaign could be just as exciting as the first.
