Manchester City get it right more often than not in the transfer window, but there’s one Premier League player who looks to be a potential regret for Pep Guardiola.
Txiki Begiristain will leave the club this summer and be replaced by Hugo Viana.
Viana has a tough act to follow, because Begiristain really has overseen some tremendous deals at the Etihad Stadium during his time as director of football.
Pep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain have been a brilliant double-act and together they have landed some brilliant players to help Manchester City dominate English football.
But there is potentially a player who looks to be a major oversight by City officials – and he was actually playing against City last weekend.
Defender Murillo put in a fine performance at the City Ground, with his post-game statistics making for superb reading.
MORE MAN CITY STORIES
Murillo shone for Nottingham Forest against Manchester City
Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Murillo started for Forest as usual against City, and was key in the Reds keeping the likes of Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Savinho at bay.
Murillo played the full game and made a whopping 11 defensive actions – 10 of which were clearances.
The Brazilian was also decent on the ball, completing 35/45 (78%) passes. He was the most involved player for Forest, having 62 touches.
Murillo vs Man City
Minutes played – 90+
Touches – 62
Passes completed – 35/45 (78%)
Clearances – 10
Interceptions – 1
Duels won 2/2 – (100%)
Murillo contested two duels, winning both, and overall it was just a really solid performance.
Haaland only had 17 touches in the game, which was perhaps indicative of how effectively Murillo and his centre-back partner Nikola Milenkovic dealt with him.
Man City considered Murillo in 2023 and may now have regrets
In 2023, Manchester City were monitoring the progress of Murillo, who was playing for Corinthians at the time.
A few other clubs were also taking a look at Murillo, but it was Nottingham Forest who landed him for a fee of around £15 million (BBC Sport).
He had only played games in Brazil before his move to the Premier League, so perhaps that was a reason City and others had reservations. But Forest saw right through that lack of experience and are now reaping the benefits.
City would sign Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig that summer, and that has clearly been a successful signing.
But potentially, it was an oversight by City not to sign Murillo, as he now looks like the real deal and is a major reason why Forest could seal Champions League football – potentially even at City’s expense given how things have been going.
With Forest’s latest clean sheet against City, the Reds now have 12 shutouts in the Premier League this season – and Murillo has been a part of all but one of those (he was injured for the 2-0 win over Everton).
His performances led to a first call-up to the Brazil squad earlier this season, indicating just what a superb rise he’s had since coming to England.
City may have got it wrong by not gambling on Murillo – but there may yet be a chance for a deal to happen in the future.
That’s because last year Murillo opened the door to play for Manchester City in the future. Undoubtedly though, he would cost much, much more than the £15 million City might have landed him for in 2023.
Indeed, The Athletic did actually report Forest can now expect to command north of £70 million for any sale of the player, and that rise in value just underlines how brilliant Forest’s gamble on Murillo was.