Nottingham Forest have failed with a bid for Corinthians defender Murillo and could still face competition from Premier League rivals Aston Villa, Manchester City and Wolves.
Over the weekend, Brazilian reporter Jorge Nicola indicated that the chances of Murillo departing Corinthians before September’s transfer deadline were ‘very small’.
That has not stopped Nottingham Forest from trying, however. According to UOL, Steve Cooper’s side have now submitted an offer for the 21-year-old centre-half, albeit one which fell short of Corinthians’ asking price.
The Brazilian giants are ‘dreaming’ of a £17 million sale but would reportedly accept £15 million. Either way, it seems that Forest’s bid fell short of both figures.
Nottingham Forest fail with Murillo bid
“Many people are speculating that Murillo will leave the Timao. I spoke to someone close to the defender and I can tell you that the chance of him leaving in the current transfer window is very small,” Nicola explains via his YouTube channel.
“Corinthians will not sell him for less than 20 million euros.”
“There are several clubs keen on him. Napoli made an offer a few days ago. Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa are the newest interested parties.”
According to Goal Brazil, Wolves are also in discussions. But with the purse-strings tightly drawn at Molineux these days – Julen Lopetegui departing after growing increasingly frustrated about the club’s lack of business in the market – it is hard to imagine Wolves going head-to-head with an Aston Villa, a Man City or even a Nottingham Forest and coming out on top.
The 6ft Murillo only made his Corinthians league debut in April. Since then, however, he has established himself as a key first-team player under veteran former Real Madrid boss Vanderlei Luxemburgo.
Nottingham Forest struggled defensively against Arsenal on Saturday, even if they did restrict Mikel Arteta’s side to just two first-half goals. In addition to Murillo, Forest are also eyeing a new striker and a left-sided wideman with Serhou Guirassy and Filip Kostic among the options.
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