The Jair Cunha Brazil call-up is the first genuinely uplifting piece of news to come out of the City Ground in a fortnight, and Oliver Glasner wants the rest of his squad to treat it as a job advert rather than a curiosity. The 21-year-old centre-back has been named in a senior Brazil squad for the first time, less than a year after he was nowhere near a regular starter for the Reds.
What the Jair Cunha Brazil call-up involves
Jair will link up with the national side later this month for a double-header against Australia, followed by a friendly with India, according to the Nottingham Post. It is his first involvement at senior level, and it comes on the back of two of the better individual displays of Forest’s season so far — the goalless draw with Tottenham Hotspur at the City Ground and the 2-2 at Liverpool before it.
He is not the first of the current group to get the call. Murillo, his partner at the heart of the defence, and striker Igor Jesus have both been named in Brazil squads previously, and a good chunk of the dressing room has represented their country at one level or another. What makes Jair’s selection land differently is the speed of it.
Glasner: ‘It shows how quick things can happen’
Forest’s head coach was unambiguous about the scale of the achievement, and equally unambiguous about the point he wanted to draw from it.
“It’s a huge achievement for him, at 21 years of age being announced for the Brazilian national team,” Glasner said. “It shows how quick things can happen, especially in football.
“He was not a regular starter (for Forest) last year. We have been together for a bit more than two months and from day one, he was listening, working really hard in every training session and asking what he can improve. We just guided him and supported him. Everything else he did.
“He had amazing performances, against Tottenham and at Liverpool. That’s why he deserves to be called up by Brazil.”
The message to the rest of the squad
Then came the part aimed squarely at the other players in the building.
“I think this should be a motivation for all other players to work very hard,” Glasner said. “Many players in our team have the potential to play for their country — but it’s not just about having potential, you have to show it every single week. This is what we will work on, to get the best version of every single player.
“Twelve players from my former club (Crystal Palace) made the World Cup in the USA. It’s not that we are doing it, it’s just we are encouraging them and supporting them.
“If the players do it, if they are willing to learn, if they are open to learning, if they are open to maybe changing a few things, then they will develop and get better. And then this is just the consequence of good and consistent performances.”
That is a fair description of what has happened to Jair since July. He arrived into a defensive group that has since been reshaped again, and he has emerged from it as one of the few players whose stock has unambiguously risen — handy for a coach who has been juggling limited centre-back cover since the window shut.
Villa Park next
The individual good news does not paper over the collective picture. Glasner is still waiting for a first win since taking charge in July, with two points from three Premier League games and three straight blanks in front of goal at home. Saturday’s 3pm trip to Aston Villa is the next chance to change that, and the team news is close to a clean bill of health, with only Nicolò Savona ruled out.
Full kick-off and broadcast details are in our Aston Villa vs Forest how to watch guide. If Jair plays the way he did against Spurs, the Reds have a defender the rest of the world is about to start watching properly.
