MURILLO INTERVIEW: I’m desperate to repay Nottingham Forest’s ‘gamble’ on me – and why Brazil call-up is ‘more than a dream’

Murillo is far too modest and polite to get carried away about Nottingham Forest, the Champions League or even links to Real Madrid but this devoutly religious superstar knows something divine is happening.

‘As each game goes by, the league gets tougher, and this sequence of matches is decisive,’ says the 22-year-old Brazilian at the beating heart of Forest’s defence, who is now the hottest young centre back in world football.

‘I think the team has been responding well. We try to follow what the manager teaches us and the results have been coming.

‘Whether we reach the Champions League or not, I prefer not to look too far ahead and instead believe that the next game is always the most important of the season.’

As he speaks to Mail Sport, that next game actually could be the most important of the season, as the champions visit the East Midlands with a Champions League place on the line.

Nottingham Forest versus Manchester City is now third versus fourth in the Premier League, a scenario few would have envisaged before this season and a reminder to Murillo that things change fast.

‘That’s why I don’t like to talk about the future too much,’ he says. ‘But I always think positively and trust the work being done by my coach and our group.

‘We’re preparing hard for the entire season, especially not just for the big games. First, I hope that no player gets injured – then I hope we win.’

Forest are a point above City with Chelsea in fifth a point further behind. Fifth could be good enough this season for a place in the European Cup, a competition burned into the soul of this club. They are, after all, the only club to have won it more often than their own domestic league.

Even after a recent wobble of one win in five, this is a far cry from the 16th-placed finish they achieved the summer that they signed Murillo from Corinthians, when he had just 27 senior appearances to his name and Forest were still having to battle accusations of kamikaze transfer spending after signing 30 players following promotion.

But those decisions paid off, and here Forest are now. So instead of getting carried away at the prospect of where this season might lead, Murillo puts his faith in those above him – manager Nuno Espirito Santo and a board led by owner Evangelos Marinakis.

‘I believe that our results are a reflection of the choices the board made in the past,’ he says. ‘We have a coach and his technical team who understand each athlete’s individual characteristics, and of course, the strength of our fans who are always very present.’

Those fans adore Murillo. They voted him as their player of the year last season and in January he repaid their faith by extending his contract until 2029. Real Madrid and Chelsea are among the clubs who want to make this squat, battle-hardened warrior theirs, but that’s not something he wants to let affect him.

‘I understood that when I arrived here, when I was signed, people didn’t know me very well,’ he says. ‘And because I had played very little at Corinthians.

‘My agent explained to me that my signing was a gamble that Nottingham Forest was taking on me, and that I had to prove to them every day that this gamble would be worth it.

‘And as I started playing and standing out, helping the team and earning my place, I felt that this contract renewal was kind of a recognition for everything that was happening.

‘It’s a gratifying thing for me, as it’s a reflection that I’m doing a good job.’

Another reflection came this week, when he was named in Brazil’s squad for crucial World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina this month.

The five-time world champions have struggled so far, sitting fifth after 12 of the 18 matches – but thanks to the expanded 48-team tournament next summer, they are in little danger. Six of the 10 South American teams qualify automatically, and a seventh is handed a play-off lifeline.

Murillo had a first taste of the Selecao in November, when called into the squad and acting as an unused substitute twice, but now is primed for more. He is one of 10 Premier League players in Dorival Junior’s squad, and will battle Arsenal’s Gabriel Magalhaes for the left-sided centre back role.

‘Being called up for the Brazilian national team is not just a dream,’ he says. ‘For us Brazilians, it’s much more than that.

‘It’s wearing the shirt of the most successful national team in history. And that has a great weight and significance. It’s not easy to describe that feeling in words.

‘The anticipation of a call-up is a mix of feelings and reflections for me. There’s anticipation, there’s gratitude, there’s pride, and there’s a lot of emotion.

‘It makes me look back at the past, at everything I went through to get here, and it also makes me look to the future. Representing my country is a source of pride for me.’

Murillo Santiago Costa dos Santos was born in Sao Paulo four days after Brazil’s last World Cup win, in 2002.

He is the modern central defender and with a vast skillset including a magical left foot that sprays passes all around.

‘Futsal allowed me to learn the skills that I can use on the field,’ he says. ‘I’ve always tried to absorb as much as possible from the teachings that all my coaches have passed on to me, and coming to Europe has helped me even more.

‘Arriving here and having access to this type of tactical and technical knowledge that England has given me, I know it has been fundamental to my development.

‘In the youth academy at Corinthians, I played in a few other positions. I played as a defensive midfielder and also as a left back. It was part of the daily routine to improvise and play in other positions and roles.’

He started his career when he was six, by playing futsal with his father, Fabio, who passed away when Murillo was 10.

His mother Rosa that took the reins of his trajectory as a footballer, even leaving her job to accompany him. Murillo is forever grateful for what she did.

‘Every player, when they reach a higher level, wants to give the best to their family,’ he once said. ‘But for her, I want to get to a place and say: “Choose whatever you want, eat whatever you want.’ It’s all the best of the best, she deserves it for everything she’s done in my life.

‘I love my mum, I’ll always take her to places. She’s part of the banter, everyone here says that. She arrives, looks at the players and says: ‘I’m Murillo’s mum, can I take a picture?”’

Fabio always dreamed his son would play for Corinthians, a vision which came true when he joined them in 2019 from Uniao Barbarense, a regional team in Sao Paulo state.

He was promoted to the senior squad in early 2023 after starring at the Copa Sao Paulo de Futebol Junior, the biggest youth tournament in Brazil and responsible for the emergences of the likes of Lucas Moura, Casemiro, Marquinhos, Lucas Paqueta and Real Madrid wunderkind Endrick.

It is worth remembering that his Corinthians debut came just four months before Nottingham Forest took their ‘gamble’ on him, a 2-0 win against third-tier Remo in the Copa do Brasil in April 2023. A hundred and twenty-seven days later, at the age of 21, he was on his way across the Atlantic for £10.3million.

Murillo lives in a residential area outside Nottingham with his wife Mabili Coladello Santiago, who is five months pregnant with their first child, a girl. He is funny and focused. He tends to not be out of his house so much and enjoys playing dominoes and cards with his friends, club colleagues and family.

There’s also some video games, in which his Forest team-mate and compatriot Danilo is a rival. He is also taking daily one-on-one classes to improve his English, despite being shy to show it on video or interviews.

He lists former Chelsea defender and Brazil captain Thiago Silva as his idol, and former Corinthians team-mate Gil as his inspiration.

And despite the interest from some of Europe’s grandest clubs, Murillo feels that he has significant room to improve as a player. ‘I think the type of training we have here helps me to improve physically more and more,’ he says. ‘I try to follow a training routine combined with rest time and a good diet.

‘I follow the technical team’s programme 100 per cent. I train daily to play a good role at my club and I think being called up to Brazil is a consequence of that work.

‘That’s why I try to improve and dedicate myself more and more every day.’