Arsenal interested in Nottingham Forest defender Murillo
Arsenal are one of the Premier League clubs interested in Nottingham Forest centre-back Murillo.
The Gunners have been linked with multiple centre-backs over the past few weeks and Daily Mail claim that Murillo is also on the radar amid Forest’s precarious financial position.
Nuno Santos’ side were recently docked four points after being found guilty of breaking Profitability and Sustainability rules.
The club could now be forced to sell some of their top players or they could face further points deduction next campaign.
Murillo is one of those attracting plenty of interest. Aside from Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are among other Premier League sides, who are closely monitoring his progress.
Forest signed Murillo for just £15 million from Corinthians. The club stand to make a significant profit out of him if they were to part ways with his services during the summer.
Murillo would be a good signing for Arsenal
The 21-year-old has had a good debut campaign for Forest. The Brazilian has averaged 1.5 tackles and 5.8 clearances per league game, making 4.8 ball recoveries.
He has also won 47 per cent of his duels with a passing accuracy of 77 per cent. His distribution should improve when he starts playing for a possessed-based outfit.
In our view, Murillo would be a good back-up signing for the Gunners. He is a left-footed centre-back and could provide cover for Gabriel Magalhaes in the squad.
However, Arsenal already have another option in the form of Jakub Kiwior. A deal for Murillo could be directly dependent on Kiwior’s stance at the end of the season.
Kiwior was linked with a potential return to Serie A in January. The Poland star has since transformed his fortunes with regular first-team minutes from the left-back role.
With Oleksandr Zinchenko fit and Jurrien Timber almost back to action, Kiwior could have a big decision to make over his future during the summer transfer window.
Murillo could be tempted to join Arsenal with the number of Portuguese speaking players at the club, but he is unlikely to be assured with regular playing time.
William Saliba and Gabriel are nailed-on starters at the heart of the defence. If Murillo has his sights on regular minutes, he could end up elsewhere like Chelsea.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com & Sofascore.com
