21-year-old was clearly Forest’s star man yesterday, he was sensational

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Nottingham Forest were beaten 3-2 by Brighton but in Murillo, they had a player who offered plenty of positives.

Eyebrows were raised when Forest chose to sign another central defender before the summer transfer window closed.

The Reds have a number of defensive options to choose from and it felt as though the 21-year-old would be one for the future.

Murillo cost the club £11 million from Corinthians and Forest fought off competition from Manchester City to sign him.

The club haven’t looked back and we’ve taken a deep dive into his performance yesterday.

Murillo stars despite defeat

The impact that Murillo has made at Forest is quite remarkable. At this rate, supporters will have to get used to seeing him in a red shirt as he might not be in one for long.

Against Brighton, Murillo was sublime – and the statistics back it up.

Defensively, the youngster was absolutely sound. He won four aerial challenges – the most of any Forest player and was colossal at centre-back.

Who Scored also showcases that he won four tackles, made four interceptions and made one clearance.

Perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing aspect of Forest star Murillo is his ability to pass a football.

Very few over the years have been able to produce such pin-point passing and showcase the ability to mix things up.

Yesterday he made six accurate long passes and finished with a pass success ratio of 73.9%.

Many years ago, Michael Dawson got a reputation for being able to play such passes but Murillo is taking that aspect to another level.

Forest can’t drop Murillo right now

The easiest thing with a young player is to know when to put them into the team. The hard part is working out when they might need a breather.

Right now, however, Forest head coach Steve Cooper simply can’t take Murillo out of this team.

He’s arguably proved himself as the club’s best central defender and he looks like an inspired signing.

Murillo is showing qualities that shouldn’t be so polished at such an early stage of his career.

Forest have hit the jackpot with Murillo and the Reds have seriously done some unbelievable business in the transfer market with this deal.