EXCLUSIVE :Shaved heads and a lucky charm – the touching story that sums up Nottingham Forest summer signing

If there’s a story that best sums up Nottingham Forest’s summer signing of Morat, it’s the one involving the six-year-old who was diagnosed with brain cancer.

   The defender has yet to really make his mark for the Reds since his deadline day move from Benfica.    Although considered a promising prospect, he has been limited to a handful of substitute appearances in the Premier League so far.

   But according to one observer who has followed Morata since his youth career in Brazil, he is a player with “huge potential” who can be a leader on and off the pitch.    And there is one particularly endearing example of his qualities.    The saga dates back to 2019, when the centre-back won the Copinho – the country’s most prestigious U20 tournament – on penalties with Sao Paulo.

   “Then he and other players from the team befriended Larissa, a six-year-old girl who loves the club and was diagnosed with brain cancer,” Premier League Brasil reporter Diogo Magri told NottinghamshireLive.    “In that campaign, she became a kind of mascot, a lucky charm, she went to matches and went to the field with the players.

   “Before the final, against Vasco, all the Sao Paulo U-20 players shaved their heads to thank her for the support, to surprise her and to give her strength to fight cancer. All except Morato. This is because Morato lost his sister  , Rafaela, suffered from cancer, four months before that he came up with a new idea.

   “Everyone came to the stadium for the final with shaved heads, except for Morat. In the dressing room, before entering the pitch, he then asked Larissa to shave her head. He did this to make her feel even more part of the team and remember his  Sao Paulo played in the final, won on penalties (Morado took one and scored) and won the title with Larissa.

   “It was a good example of his personality, leadership and of course his great potential as a player. He’s a guy I wish all the best for. Larissa is a cancer survivor and occasionally appears at Sao Paulo matches.”

   Magri says Morato was considered “the best defender” at Copinha that year and was snapped up by Benfica soon after.    He then went on to make almost 50 league appearances for the Portuguese side before moving to the City Ground.

   The 23-year-old currently has a lot of work to do to break into Nuna Espirito Santo’s starting line-up, given the impressive partnership Murillo and Nikola Milenković have formed.    However, Magri has no doubts that Morato will eventually show what he’s made of – pointing out that the Reds’ new signing was at one stage rated as a bigger prospect than Murillo.

   “Morado was one of the great left central defenders that Sao Paulo’s youth team has had in recent years,” he adds.    “Sao Paulo fans were very angry when the club sold him to Benfica without him playing for the club.

   “Everyone saw that even at 17 he could be one of the best defenders to play for the club in recent years. But Sao Paulo had financial problems and had to negotiate for him.

   “He is a good combination between a tall and physically strong player and a defender who knows what to do with the ball.    He was always known for finding good passes from the defense.    He could also play as a left-back, but it’s fair to say that his best qualities come out as a central defender.

   “Maybe he needs to improve his intensity to play in a league like the Premier League. He has good technique but he can suffer from the speed of the game and the high intensity in the first few months.

   “At Benfica he had a few injuries that held back his development. Benfica seemed like a good place for him to develop his football in a European context, but with the amount of good defenders at the club, in my vision, it was more difficult than I expected and he  also delayed his development.He only had opportunities when one of them couldn’t play, and he also had bad experiences improvising as a left-back.

   “Still, I think going to the Premier League, to a club that gives young players a chance and has a Brazilian club where he can learn from Murillo, is a good move. He needs to play and get more minutes than under the management of the last five years to show  , what he can do.

   “If you just compare the Under-20s in Brazil, he was seen as a centre-back with more potential than, say, Murillo and Gabriel Magalhaes. So obviously he could do well in England.