The Athletic’s piece today on the subject of Nottingham Forest has an interesting mention of Chelsea.
The Blues are apparently a major suitor of Forest centre back Murillo. He joined them from Corinthians last summer and quickly showed himself to be a top class operator. He’s a strong central defender who also has the technical ability to move the ball forward – and he almost scored a couple of great goals surging out from the back, even for relegation battlers forest.
Chelsea apparently watched him all season, along with Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Tottenham.
Murillo would be very expensive, and given Chelsea’s depth in central defence we’re not sure we see them making a move just yet. But even if the 21 year old ends up staying at the City Ground, there will remain many eyes on him and his progress.
“Murillo? He is a different level of player,” the defender’s teammate Danilo is quoted as saying in the piece.
“I am biased because I am with him every day but this is only his first season. He will do brilliantly in European football in the future.”
A tricky signing to pull off
We have no doubt that it’s true Chelsea watched the defender regularly. He was one out the outstanding players in his position all year, especially considered the team he was playing for, and the major chance that Forest went down would have made signing him even more tempting.
But in the end, despite a points deduction, Nuno Espirito Santo’s arrival helped keep them up, and they will now be looking to build more security rather than lose one of their strong points.
There is a chance however – the Tricky Trees are in major FFP issues right now, and there is big speculation they will have to sell off a number of first team stars. They’d rather keep Murillo almost more than anyone of course, but if someone comes in with a big offer, they’ll certainly have to at least listen.
