Nottingham Forest have demanded €60m (£51m) for Chelsea target Murillo, according to UOL Esporte.
The Brazilian website claims that the Blues have held “initial” talks with Forest about the centre-back but they are “unlikely” to meet the current asking price.
It is believed that Enzo Maresca’s side are weighing up a part-exchange offer for Murillo, which could include cash and two players moving in the other direction.
UOL don’t say which players would be involved in the transaction and it remains to be seen whether Forest would accept such a proposal. They are said to have issues with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability rules so that may play a role in their decision.
Why are Chelsea interested in Murillo?
The 21-year-old only signed from Corinthians just before the transfer window closed last summer, but he established himself as a first-team regular pretty quickly.
Murillo made his debut against Brentford at the start of October and he was pretty much ever-present for the rest of the campaign despite having two managers in Steve Cooper and Nuno Espirito Santo.
The Brazilian is left-footed so his arrival at Stamford Bridge would place question marks over the future of Benoit Badiashile. The Frenchman had an erratic second campaign with the Blues.
Carragher is a fan
Speaking about the Forest centre-half and Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite back in February, Liverpool legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher was effusive in his praise of the pair:
“I remember being a young lad going in myself at Liverpool and it’s an unforgiving position, I had to go to full-back for the next three or four years and then go back to centre-back, so you can see the quality we have. Branthwaite has been outstanding, Murillo I think has been outstanding too.”
