Igor Jesus drops hint on whether he will feature in Nottingham Forest’s friendly against Fulham

Igor Jesus is getting to grips with the Nottingham Forest squad as part of the club’s training camp in Portugal, with Saturday’s clash with Fulham his first chance to earn some minutes.

Jesus was announced as a Forest player after competing in the Club World Cup with Botafogo, where he managed to score in a win against the European champions, PSG.

Since arriving, Jesus revealed that he spoke to Murillo about Forest when the two played together with Brazil, giving an indication that the forward should hopefully settle into the Forest squad without issue.

Having been seen in the training clips that the club have released, Reds fans will be hoping to see Jesus out on the pitch on Saturday against Fulham, something the 24-year-old has discussed in a new interview with the official media team.

Igor Jesus on whether he will feature against Fulham

There’s nothing more important for a striker than building momentum in front of goal, so even in pre-season, Jesus will be aiming to hit the ground running to impress Nuno Espírito Santo.

However, adapting from Brazilian football to the demands of the Premier League could take time, so the striker is not putting any pressure on these opening few weeks.

He said: “I want to play as soon as possible of course, but for this to happen, I have to be very well prepared and understand a bit about the coach’s methods so I can perfect my game and integrate as soon as possible with the team.

“I want to be available as soon as possible to do my best and help the team as much as possible.”

Against Chesterfield and AS Monaco, Espírito Santo was able to use a different starting XI in each half, with plenty of Forest academy graduates getting a run-out.

However, with the youth players now on their own training camp in Poland, the squad is looking rather thin for the Fulham clash.

The Nottingham Forest squad is light ahead of Fulham

Espírito Santo hasn’t travelled with a large squad to Portugal, with even some senior players absent from the camp.

Carlos Miguel is absent from the Portugal camp as young shotstopper Aaron Bott has travelled with the team instead, but there will be no other youngsters to help prop up what looks to be a thin squad to face Fulham and Estoril.

Therefore, Jesus is almost certain to earn minutes against Fulham along with Jair Cunha, as the Forest manager works with his limited numbers while Edu and the recruitment team look to secure reinforcements.