Real Madrid are weighing up a January move for Nottingham Forest defender Murillo - but they will have to pay double their £40million valuation if they want to land the Brazilian.



The Spanish giants are set to enter the transfer market for defensive reinforcements in the New Year after losing key players to injury. Eder Militao is among those sidelined after sustaining a serious knee injury - and that has impacted Real's winter window plans.

Murillo has been attracting interest from elsewhere after playing a starring role in Forest's start to the season, with Nuno Espirito Santo 's side currently sitting fifth in the Premier League table.

Real Madrid are among the defender's admirers, according to a new report from The Mail, who also detail that Los Blancos value the former Corinthians at around £40m.

It's believed Nottingham Forest are not under any pressure to sell, though, and would not do business unless Real were willing to pay double that for the 22-year-old.

Real Madrid are currently six points behind their arch-rivals, Barcelona, at the La Liga summit and will have to cope without Militao, David Alaba and Dani Carvajal in the coming months.

It's no secret that Real have identified Trent Alexander-Arnold as their long-term choice for the right-back spot with the Liverpool defender inside the final 12 months of his contract.

However, it has emerged via Relovo that Real Madrid will not make a move for Alexander-Arnold in January and are mindful that, if he does choose to move on, he wants to leave his boyhood club in a respectful way.

That means Carlo Ancelotti's side could target a stopgap signing in January to tide them over until the summer, where Alexander-Arnold could then potentially move to Spain.

Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher recently admitted that he isn't totally convinces Alexander-Arnold will extend his deal at Anfield, telling BBC Sport: “I'm pretty confident that the two older lads [Virgil Van Dijk and Mohammed Salah] will sign. They're at a stage where it's difficult to move on to a better club than Liverpool.

“When I played, the two only clubs where players would want to move on to were the Spanish giants but I don't really see that now for Virgil and Mo - who will be desperate to break as many records as he can.

“Trent is in a different situation, so that's the one most people will be worried about with the interest from Real Madrid and the fact that Dani Carvajal has done his ACL.”