Club president aims blunt dig at Morato after Nottingham Forest transfer
Benfica president Rui Costa has discussed Morato’s transfer to Nottingham Forest. The 23-year-old Brazilian defender joined the Reds from the Portuguese giants on the summer transfer window’s deadline day, signing a five-year deal at the City Ground.
He has so far made two substitute appearances for Forest in the Premier League, in their last two matches against Liverpool and Brighton.
Morato played 86 times for Benfica, winning the domestic title in 2022-23, and speaking about his departure Costa bluntly told BTV the player was well down the pecking order at the Estádio da Luz.
He explained: “Two years ago, Morato had a different projection, but we didn’t want to devalue the resource and damage the player’s career by keeping him as a fourth centre-back.
“He probably would have had a few minutes during the season, so he left. We kept the three centre-backs, plus one from the youth team.”
Forest had been tracking Morato for a while before finally being able to strike a deal with Benfica, with chief football officer Ross Wilson saying back in August: "Morata has been in our thoughts and discussions to come into the squad for several transfer windows and we're delighted to have him join us today."