The Murillo Nottingham Forest story is the one every rival recruitment department has been watching for two and a half years. A left-footed centre-back bought from Brazil for a fee that now looks like daylight robbery, he has gone from unknown quantity to the most coveted asset at the City Ground – and, with Elliot Anderson gone, arguably the most valuable player the Reds have. This is the guide to Forest’s No.5: where he came from, what he actually does on a pitch, and why Oliver Glasner’s back three should suit him.
Who is Murillo?
Murillo Santiago Costa dos Santos was born in Brazil on 7 August 2002 and is 24. Like a lot of the country’s best defenders, he was made at Corinthians, coming through the São Paulo giants’ academy before breaking into the senior side in 2022 and quickly establishing himself as a first-team regular in the Brasileirão.
Forest moved for him in the January 2024 window, paying a reported initial fee of around £12m plus add-ons. At the time it was filed under "speculative" – a 21-year-old defender from a league with a mixed record of exporting centre-backs to the Premier League, arriving mid-season at a club scrapping for survival. It has since become one of the shrewdest pieces of business the club has done in the modern era.
Why the Murillo Nottingham Forest deal looks like a steal
Murillo did not need a settling-in period. He was in the side almost immediately and, by the end of that first half-season, had been voted the club’s player of the season – an extraordinary return for a defender who had arrived in January and spoke barely any English.
What makes him unusual is the combination. Plenty of centre-backs are quick; plenty are comfortable on the ball. Murillo is both, and the recovery pace is the part that lets Forest play the way they want to. It allows the defensive line to sit higher than the personnel around him would otherwise permit, and it repeatedly turns what look like clean breaks into nothing. The left foot matters too: it opens the angle for the diagonal out to the right wing-back, and it means Forest are not funnelling every build-up phase through the same side.
The knocks are the ones you would expect of a young, aggressive defender. He steps out of the line to intercept and does not always win the duel; he can be drawn into a challenge he did not need to make. Both are the flip side of what makes him good, and both have got noticeably rarer season on season.
The Brazil call and the transfer noise
Murillo has been called into the senior Brazil squad, the natural consequence of two strong Premier League seasons in a national team that has been restless about its defensive options. He has also been the subject of persistent transfer speculation involving several of Europe’s biggest clubs across the last two windows – none of which Forest have entertained.
That resistance is the point. Forest have shown, repeatedly, that they will sell at the right number: the club’s record sales list makes that plain, with Anderson’s move to Manchester City reported at around £116m. The corollary is that anyone who wants Murillo will be quoted a figure that reflects his age, his contract and the fact that the Reds have no need to sell. He was not going anywhere this summer, and the window is now shut until January.
Where he fits under Glasner in 2026/27
This is the interesting bit. Glasner’s football is built on a back three, and the left-sided slot in that three is close to a bespoke role for a defender with Murillo’s profile: he defends the biggest area of grass, he is the first ball-carrier out of the back when the press comes, and he has a wing-back ahead of him to find. If you want the fuller tactical picture, we broke down the 3-4-2-1 shape here.
The competition around him has also changed. Ousmane Diomande arrived from Sporting CP in a deal reported at around £34m, Nikola Milenković remains the senior presence, and Jair Cunha is the other Brazilian in the group. Morato and Zach Abbott both left on deadline-day loans – to West Ham United and Southampton respectively – which tightened the department to four senior centre-backs. The full ins and outs are in our summer window round-up.
Four for three shirts is a healthier ratio than it sounds, and it is one Glasner is said to prefer. It also means Murillo is no longer simply undroppable by default; he is undroppable on merit, which is a different and better thing.
The season so far
Forest are still waiting for a first win of 2026/27. A 1-0 home defeat to Leeds United on the opening weekend was followed by a 2-0 loss to the same opponents in the Carabao Cup second round at the City Ground, ending the cup run before it began. The 2-2 draw away at Liverpool on matchday two – Dan Ndoye and Morgan Gibbs-White scoring, Liam Delap making his debut – was the first evidence that the ideas are landing.
Tottenham Hotspur visit Trentside on Saturday 6 September, 3pm, and it is the kind of fixture on which a season’s early mood turns. Our Spurs preview is here, and the post-window best XI is here – Murillo is in it, which will surprise nobody.
The bottom line
Forest have spent big and sold bigger over the last two summers, but the £12m they put down in January 2024 remains the single best line on the ledger. Murillo is 24, he is a Brazil squad member, he is defending in a system that flatters his strengths, and he is under contract. For a club that has spent the modern era being a selling club by necessity, keeping him is the statement.
Squad, appearance and contract details are maintained on the club's official website, while the Nottingham Post has tracked the shape of Glasner’s strongest side since the window closed, and the Guardian’s summer window verdict set Forest’s business in league-wide context. If the Reds are going to climb this season, it starts with the man in the No.5 shirt.
