Murillo has been one of the stars of Nottingham Forest’s Champions League push, but fans will be surprised to hear who he thinks deserves a special mention.
For what seemed like the first time in his Forest career, Murillo made a costly error against Everton that saw the Merseyside club take all three points at the City Ground in what was a blow to Reds fans’ confidence.
The Brazilian has enough credit in the bank, though for his maturing season under Nuno Espirito Santo, even though Murillo was snubbed from Jamie Carragher’s Team of the Season.
Missing only one Premier League game this season, Murillo certainly deserves credit for his achievements this campaign, but the 22-year-old has picked out a surprise candidate to offer praise of his own to.
Murillo picks out Jota Silva as Nottingham Forest’s ‘unsung hero’
Speaking to the club media after seven of Forest’s stars have been shortlisted to be a part of EAFC’s fan-voted Premier League team of the season, Murillo was asked who he felt was the “unsung hero” of the Forest squad this season.
Murillo said: “For me it’s Jota, he works hard every day and every training session”. An unexpected pick, Jota Silva has been scoring from the bench in recent weeks, but has rarely contributed to the side from the start, but clearly Murillo sees something we don’t on the training ground.
| Statistic | Jota Silva this season (all competitions) |
| Appearances | 32 |
| Goals | 4 |
| Assists | 2 |
Even though his form has begun to pick up slightly, the Portuguese winger hasn’t had the perfect debut season as shown when Roy Keane criticised Jota for his display against Exeter City in the FA Cup.
A surprise choice, no doubt, but fellow EAFC nominees Anthony Elanga and Ola Aina had a more expected choice for their unsung hero.
Anthony Elanga names Matz Sels as his unsung Forest hero
More predictably, Elanga and Aina selected Matz Sels as their underrated Forest teammate this season, and their logic is hard to argue with.
Elanga said:
- “He’s been second to none, you know, he’s been serious.”
Whilst Aina added:
- “He’s kept us in a few games this season, you know, some games I thought: ‘If it wasn’t for him, it could’ve been dark.”
His most recent heroics came as Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer hailed Sels for his efforts in the FA Cup quarter-final win over Brighton, with scope for even more starring displays before the end of the season.
With Forest paying just £6m for Sels, the Belgian has become one of Evangelos Marinakis’ best signings for the club, earning even more praise than he has already recieved this season.
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