Milenkovic and Yates react to Nottingham Forest’s message to Murillo
Nikola Milenkovic and Ryan Yates have both reacted to a new message by Nottingham Forest towards their key centre-back Murillo.
Murillo impressed massively last term as Forest exceeded all expectations and remained in the race for Champions League football until the final day of the season.
The burly Brazilian defender formed a strong partnership with Milenkovic at the heart of Nuno Espirito Santo’s defence, and his standout performances saw him nominated for the Premier League’s Fans’ Team of the Season, while the club finished in the Conference League places.
Former Everton chief Keith Wyness recently revealed to Football Insider that Nuno and owner Evangelos Marinakis will need to agree on selling some key men in the coming months, and it looks as if their sales are soon set to begin with Anthony Elanga potentially set to join Newcastle United.
Murillo is on Liverpool’s radar right now [The Athletic], but remains a Forest player as it stands, and he has received a new message from his club on a special day from a personal point of view.
Forest wish Murillo a happy birthday as he turns 23-years-old
Murillo celebrated his 23rd birthday on Friday, 4 July, and Forest celebrated his special day with an Instagram post of their key man captioned: “Feliz aniversário (Murillo),” which translates to “Happy birthday” in English.
Their message was reacted to by his Forest teammates Milenkovic and Yates, who each left a like, while the one-cap Brazilian international also liked the post himself, while he also shared it to his Instagram story.
Forest will not want to lose Murillo this summer amid Liverpool interest
Football Insider verdict
Forest’s success last season was built on a firm defensive structure and fast counter-attacking play, and Murillo more-than played his part with 39 appearances in all competitions.
The 23-year-old, who joined the East Midlands outfit from Corinthians in 2023 for a reported fee of £15m [BBC], has grown into one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League over the last 12 months, and so it is no wonder that top clubs are circling for his services this summer.
| Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| 75 | 2 | 2 |
The Athletic claim that Murillo is “admired” by Liverpool, but he is likely to be too expensive to sign this summer, and so Reds sporting director Richard Hughes is instead looking at other young centre-halves.
That will be music to the ears of all connected with Forest, and is likely down to the fact that Murillo signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract extension at the City Ground in January, so they do not need to sell him anytime soon over other key players.
Instead, it seems more likely that Nuno’s side will look to sell Swedish international Elanga, or cash in another star after former scout Mick Brown told Football Insider on 10 June that Chelsea could move to sign Morgan Gibbs-White this summer.