Murillo has made waves since signing for Nottingham Forest but Garry Birtles has cited one area of his game where he simply isn’t very good.
Forest caught the eye when they fought off competition from Manchester City to sign Murillo for around £11 million.
He’s been ever-present in the Premier League since he made his debut against Brentford back in October, earning rave reviews.
Lewis McGugan has praised Murillo for his form this season and the Forest man will be wanted by bigger clubs in the summer.
At 21-years-old, the Reds believe that they can recoup around £50 million should they decide to sell Murillo and that would mean significant profit.
However, Birtles believes there is one area of Murillo’s game that isn’t up to scratch yet and is a work in progress.
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Garry Birtles shares one weakness that Forest star Murillo has
Well, it has to be said that Birtles has praised Murillo before and it’s not as though he doesn’t rate him but he’s spotted one area that he could improve.
When it comes to defending set pieces, Forest have been truly abysmal. The Reds have conceded 22 goals from those situations and that’s the worst in the division.
Birtles feels Murillo has contributed to that a little bit and doesn’t overly fancy him when it comes to his aerial prowess.
He told the Forest Focus podcast: “They’re not particularly good in the air our two centre-halves at the moment.
“Murillo, he heads the ball up in the air and some of the goals we’ve conceded have come from those situations this season but the options aren’t very good in that area at the moment.”
Forest will face central defensive problem this summer
With Murillo a wanted man – and Forest likely to need to sell one of their star players – there is a bit of a storm brewing at central defence.
Felipe will retire and given his injury record, Willy Boly might not be handed an extension to his contract beyond this season.
If Murillo was to leave as well that would essentially mean Moussa Niakhate and Andrew Omobamidele would remain the only senior defenders at the club.
Scott McKenna is out of contract and won’t be back, whilst Joe Worrall is currently on loan with Besiktas and may not have a future.
If Forest stay in the Premier League, a central defender will need to be prioritised and hopefully, plans for Murillo leaving are already in place.
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