Liverpool could be hoping to take advantage of one club’s perilous financial situation to sign one of their standout players.
According to the Daily Mail, the Reds are among four Premier League sides currently monitoring Nottingham Forest defender Murillo, who’s ‘earned rave reviews’ since joining from Corinthians last year.
The Midlands club were deduced four points on Monday for breaching the top flight’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) and could now be forced to sell their most valuable playing assets in the summer in order to mitigate the risk of further punishments over their financial affairs.
Despite Forest struggling near the wrong end of the table even before their points deduction, Murillo has been a shining light in their season so far.
The 21-year-old was hailed by Jamie Carragher as an ‘outstanding‘ player, and he’s racked up some highly impressive performance metrics during his first campaign in English football.
As per FBref, the Brazilian ranks among the top 3% of centre-backs in Europe’s five main leagues over the past year for successful take-ons per 90 minutes with 0.77, while he’s also among the top 2% of positional peers for clearances per game with a whopping 6.09.
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Liverpool already have strong competition for places in central defence, with Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah all vying to partner Virgil van Dijk. Joel Matip is still in the squad, too, although it looks increasingly likely that he’ll depart in the summer once his contract expires.
If Forest desperately need to sell key assets in order to avoid further PSR breaches, especially in the event of relegation, Murillo could possibly be acquired for a reasonable price.
The primary question for Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes is whether the addition of a new centre-back is a priority in the summer transfer window.