Murillo: From Futsal in São Paulo to the Premier League

The road for young Brazilian footballers from the Brasileirão, Brazil’s top domestic league, to the English Premier League is one that is rarely trodden, at least not directly anyway. The most common pathway would be to move to Portugal's Primeira Liga, or any of the top divisions in Spain, Netherlands, Germany or France where they can acclimatize to the rigors of European top-flight football before then taking that bold step into the English game.

Chelsea’s former midfielder and UEFA Champions League winner Ramires is one of the more prominent examples in the past two decades, moving from Cruzeiro in his homeland to Benfica before eventually being snapped up by the West-London giants after a stellar season in Portugal.  There have, however, been some exceptions.

Nicolas Dominguez: Analyzing Nottingham Forest’s Argentine Midfielder

Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli, signed from Brazilian second division outfit Ituano in 2019, has gone on to take the English top flight by storm despite not having any prior experience in Europe. Another such exception is Murillo Santiago Costa dos Santos; better known as Murillo, a talented defender whose rise in stature and reputation at the heart of the Nottingham Forest backline has been nothing short of remarkable.