'A very complete player' - ex-boss Paiva backs Jesus to shine against Villa

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Nottingham Forest landed the bargain of the season in Igor Jesus, according to former Botafogo boss Renato Paiva.

The striker is the Europa League's joint top goalscorer with seven going into Thursday's semi-final first leg against Aston Villa at the City Ground.

Forest paid Botafogo £10m for Jesus last summer and the 25-year-old has 15 goals.

Paiva said: "Pedro Ferreira [Forest's head of recruitment] worked with me at Benfica and he asked me about Igor and I said: 'Wow, my friend, he's an incredible player.'

"When we spoke about the price, I said: 'My god, this is very, very cheap.' Before the Club World Cup, even cheaper.

"He's a very complete player. The number nine I think all the coaches are searching for. He's the first guy that defends - you say to press and he presses, you say to close the spaces and he close spaces. He's a very clever guy and understands what the coaches want."

Forest struck a deal before the Club World Cup last year, with Jesus scoring in Botafogo's shock win over Paris St-Germain which Paiva masterminded, but his former manager believes it was an error from the Brazilians. The deal was eventually announced in July.

"It was a mistake to sell a player before the competition," said the former Benfica youth coach. "Strategically, it's an error. After the competition you probably will have better offers.

"But I understand sometimes this kind of business is defined by the timing."