Scarpa: "I’m enjoying being here & learning every day"

The 29-year-old has made eight appearances in the Garibaldi since making his debut in our 1-0 win away at Southampton last month, before making his first Premier League start and home debut against Leicester City during a 2-0 victory at The City Ground.

When asked about how he’s settling into the area, Scarpa said he’s already beginning to feel at home in Nottingham.

“I’m enjoying it here a lot, it’s a very nice city and my wife is feeling settled, too. We are very happy here. I’ve always dreamed to play in England, and it’s exceeded my expectations so far.

“The pace and intensity of the Premier League is the biggest difference compared to the Brazilian league, you’re fighting every minute of the match and the speed of the game is something that you have to get used to but I’m enjoying it and learning every day and with every game."

After moving to Europe for the first time following many successful seasons in the Brazilian top-flight, Scarpa admits he is enjoying the atmosphere created at Premier League fixtures and that his new teammates and supporters have helped him settle into life at The City Ground.

“It’s always a great atmosphere, you can see how much it means to the supporters and it’s very good to receive this love from them. All of my friends in Brazil are following the games and results and have now become big Forest fans.

“It gets easier to settle if you have some friends, Renan was already here and although I didn’t know him before I signed, we have become good friends and he's helped me a lot. He introduced me to the guys and that then helped me to welcome Danilo and Felipe to the group when they joined."

“All of the lads here have been great, they treat the new players very well and we’re all trying to help Renan and Felipe with their English! The club in general have treated us very well."

In 2015, one of Scarpa’s dreams became a reality. The attacking midfielder grew up idolising Ronaldinho during his time at Barcelona, with Scarpa one day dreaming of playing alongside the Brazil legend. Turn the clock forward to 2015, the two would be lining up as teammates together for Fluminese…

“When I was younger, I always wanted to play next to Ronaldinho. That was one of my biggest dreams alongside playing in a World Cup and playing in the Premier League. I’ve been fortunate to play with Ronaldinho in 2015 at Fluminense and now I’m here in the Premier League so I’ve been very lucky so far.

"He had an incredible free-kick technique which we’d all watch and admire in training, I was quite young at the time so I didn’t talk too much to him, but I just remember staring at him trying to learn as much as I could!”

“My father used to encourage me and my sister to watch English movies with Portuguese subtitles and he loves rock & roll music, too. Since I was a little kid, I used to watch a lot of Friends on TV and listen to music so I could pick up the lyrics and get used to the language. By the time I was 15 years old I was speaking English and that’s something that has helped me adapt here.

“A few years ago, I started a couple of hobbies to help switch off from football and that included wakeboarding, skateboarding and every year I have new goals as to what I want to learn.

One of them was the Rubik’s Cube, and I fell in love with it! Lewis O’Brien has been learning, Morgan Gibbs-White and Yatesy are good, and Danilo can solve it too. Renan gives me some hard work though!”

Back to the here and now, Scarpa says all focus within the squad is on the remaining Premier League fixtures following Saturday's 1-1 draw against reigning champions Manchester City on Trentside this afternoon.

“We have a very good blend of experience and young guys in the team, but the most important thing is having players here that want to win and do what it takes to win, which is what we have.

"Every game in the Premier League is a difficult challenge, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing against it’s always difficult, but we feel we’re improving, and we will continue to work as hard as we can.”