DANILO’S NOT FOR TAMING
NOTTINGHAM FOREST boss Steve Cooper won’t be looking to tame his new signing Danilo.
The City Ground chief subbed the precocious Brazilian for his own good just 45 minutes into his first Premier League start, against Leeds last week.
The £16million midfielder had been booked for a crude lunge at Pascal Struijk, and Cooper (below) said he decided to take no chances.
But he insisted that he won’t be looking to clip the 21-year-old’s wings.
Cooper said: “Danilo is an exciting talent – and that’s great. But I took him off because of his yellow card.
“In a chaotic game, I felt it might be one of those afternoons where he could have made a simple error after having been booked and been punished for it.
“That’s all it was – I won’t be talking to him about it.
“We’re really happy that we have given him the experience.
“Obviously, we need to find out what people bring to the club, who they are and what they’ve got, and work out what’s best.
“The quicker you can give people that experience, the better, and Danilo is at the stage where he needs it.”
Cooper’s campaign is gathering momentum now after Forest picked up just four points from their first eight league matches on their return to the top flight.
The revolving door at the entrance to the home dressing room at the City Ground has become something of a standing joke.
But the quality of the players steadily being accumulated has brought about a significant uplift in performances and results.
Danilo, who joined from Brazilian giants Palmeiras, is one of them.
Cooper added: “We’ve got Remo Freuler here – he’s played in the Champions League and he said to me, ‘England’s different’.
“You’ve just got to give players the opportunity to ‘feel’ it in the Premier League. They even say that training is different in England. I don’t know why. It just is, apparently.
“So, we just see this young boy Danilo in a new environment, really going for it. He’s trying to work it out at the same time, that’s really good.
“It’s our job to go, ‘Come on, mate, let’s go on this little journey together’.
“Danilo is a bit different because of the language. We have to be creative with the message. But we’re happy with his involvement so far.
“I think we’re really going to enjoy working with him.”