Honest Take on £10m Nottingham Forest star: “He is ready-made Murillo replacement and he’s got a remarkable statistic

Following East Midlands’ victory over Leicester City, Nottingham Forest supporters were able to enjoy their weekend. In the second half, Chris Wood scored two really fine goals to bring his season total to seven goals, and the King Power Stadium fell silent.

Forest are in the top six of the Premier League before the Sunday games get underway and have 16 points on the board after nine games. It’s a season that has panned out differently to last season with Forest needing 20 games to secure as many points last season as what they’ve gained now.

The secret behind the success has been solid recruitment and Nuno Espirito Santo highlighting a need to bring strength in depth to the squad.

One of those players added was Morato who checked in from Benfica on transfer deadline day for £10 million after featuring for them in the Champions League last season. He’s made an intriguing start to life at Forest and already looks like a quality option from the bench.

Right now, however, he looks like being the next in line should anything happen to the first-choice pairing this season. Morato has been very much a dependable performer when he’s come on in games and goes about his business very quickly. The Brazilian defender is yet to be on the pitch when Forest have conceded a goal and that is of testament to the player and his ability. On Friday he once again came on with a little under 20 minutes remaining and actually made as many clearances (four) as Ryan Yates and Murillo.

Who Scored also showed that he made two interceptions and his performances continue to catch the eye despite being brief cameos each week. Morato will push Milenkovic and Murillo for starting berth Neither Milenkovic nor Murillo will be getting dropped any time soon and for now Morato will have to remain patient. The player has only played for 65 minutes this season but it’s still quite special that the Reds haven’t conceded whilst he’s been on the pitch.

At 23, the player looks like a very shrewd piece of business made by Forest and once again highlights that the club’s recruitment is deserving of more respect. Murillo is being watched by some of Europe’s top football clubs and with Morato being left-sided, perhaps the club have already found a ready-made replacement for the youngster.