Liverpool handed golden opportunity to land £40m gem with ‘big future’, he fits Slot priority | OneFootball

Liverpool might just have been handed a golden opportunity to snap up one reported transfer target in the coming days.

According to Football Insider, the Reds are interested in Nottingham Forest defender Murillo, and circumstances at the City Ground could work in our favour.

The Midlands club need to record a trading profit of £20m-£25m by Sunday in order to avoid another points deduction for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), having already been hit by such a punishment last season.

Although the Garibaldi will seek to meet that threshold by offloading fringe players, they may yet be forced into parting with key assets such as the £40m-rated centre-back before the end of June.

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Murillo only joined Forest last summer but was one of his team’s best players as they narrowly clung onto their Premier League status – indeed, he was named the club’s Player of the Season for 2023/24.

Still only 21, he’s been touted by Sky Sports reporter Dougie Critchley to have a ‘big, big future‘, while both Micah Richards and Jamie Redknapp have raved over the defender’s left foot prowess.

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That commodity aligns with what’s believed to be one of Arne Slot’s main priorities in his first transfer window at Liverpool (TEAMtalk), with the Brazilian fitting the description of the left-sided centre-back that the Reds’ new head coach is seeking.

Forest’s increasingly pressing need to raise funds in order to avoid further PSR penalties could play right into our hands if Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes can act swiftly enough to get a deal done in the coming days.

Could the 21-year-old become the first signing of the Slot era at Anfield? There certainly appears to be an enticing opportunity for LFC to exploit if they can move quickly and present an attractive proposal to the defender and his current club.

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