Nottingham Forest have a new centre-forward to challenge Chris Wood in 2025/26: Brazil international Igor Jesus.
The 24-year-old is coming off an impressive two seasons at Botafogo, where he became a hugely popular figure in helping them win the Serie A title and the Copa Libertadores.
He did them proud at the FIFA Club World Cup, too, scoring twice in four matches.
The question is, will his enormous promise be fulfilled at the City Ground?
Here we take a look at what FPL managers can expect from the £10m man.
THE QUOTES
“Igor Jesus is a modern centre forward who doesn’t just stay in the box. He actively contributes to the build-up of Botafogo’s attacking plays. He’s very intelligent and has great game awareness.
“He’s strong and fast, and very hardworking. He often drops deep to help in build-up play and frequently positions himself almost like an attacking midfielder, setting up wingers to attack the box.“He knows when to slow down or speed up the game. However, due to his willingness to help the team, he sometimes ends up too far from the goal and doesn’t score as many goals as you’d expect from a top-tier striker.” – Gabriel Rodrigues, Brazilian journalist, Trivela
THE HISTORY + STATS
| SEASON | CLUB | COMPETITION | APPS | GOALS | ASSISTS |
| 2025 | Botafogo | Série A | 10 | 3 | 1 |
| 2024 | Botafogo | Série A | 22 | 5 | 3 |
| 23/24 | Shabab Al-Ahli | UAE Pro League | 19 | 14 | 3 |
| 22/23 | Shabab Al-Ahli | UAE Pro League | 17 | 6 | 2 |
| 21/22 | Shabab Al-Ahli | UAE Pro League | 6 | 2 | 0 |
| 20/21 | Shabab Al-Ahli | UAE Pro League | 24 | 12 | 11 |
| 2020 | Cortiba | Série A | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Cortiba | Série B | 24 | 3 | 1 |
*Stats from Transfermarkt
Igor Jesus came through the ranks at Cortiba, where he made his first-team debut as a 17-year-old in January 2019. He soon moved away from his native Brazil, joining United Arab Emirates club Shabab Al-Ahli, where he scored 34 goals in 66 UAE Pro-League appearances.
His steady improvement convinced Botafogo to make their move in 2024. He repaid them by helping them win the Serie A Brasileiro title and the Copa Libertadores, via five goals and three assists in 22 appearances in the league and three goals and two assists in six Libertadores outings.
Though not yet prolific, Jesus is more just a goalscorer. He has developed into an all-round team player, who is prepared to drop deep to help build attacks. In 2024, he was rewarded with four caps for the Brazil national team and was selected for their World Cup qualifiers in October and November, where he scored on debut against Chile.
Jesus continues to develop year on year and is a player with a high ceiling. This year, he returned three goals in 10 Serie A appearances, two goals in five Libertadores matches and also impressed among elite company this summer, scoring twice in four matches to help Botafogo reach the knockout stage of the Club World Cup.
Here’s his deflected goal against PSG and his headed strike against Seattle Sounders:
ADVANTAGE SOUTH AMERICA! 🌎⚽️
IGOR JESUS BURIES IT! 💥@PSG_English 0 – @Botafogo 1
Watch the @FIFACWC | June 14 – July 13 | Every Game | Free | https://t.co/i0K4eUtwwb | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld #PSGBOT pic.twitter.com/VVS0NNBbPM
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) June 20, 2025
All angles of Igor Jesus’s goal ⚽
WATCH @Botafogo – @SoundersFC in the @FIFACWC now | June 14 – July 13 | Every Game | Free | https://t.co/i0K4eUtwwb | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld #BOTSEA pic.twitter.com/jlxBlDn948
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) June 16, 2025
THE UNDERLYING NUMBERS
Igor Jesus ranks 10th in the Serie A scorers’ charts for 2025, although he has taken no penalties this season. He has only produced one assist in the Brazilian top flight this term.
On these elementary statistics, the impression is of a player who is far from the finished article.
What does stand out about the 24-year-old’s game is his shot quantity. Only Kaio Jorge of Cruzeiro had more attempts than Igor Jesus’s 35 in 10 Serie A matches this season, and his 14 efforts on target were also high, placing him joint-second in the division.
No surprise to see him rank highly for shot volume in his Fbref Scouting Report:
*Player compared to positional peers in ‘Men’s Next 14 Competitions’ (the next best leagues after the ‘big five’) over the last 365 days.
His showings at the Club World Cup also give cause for optimism. He scored an emphatic header against Seattle Sounders – the sort of Chris Wood himself would be proud – and scored the winner on the breakaway against Paris St-Germain; two very different types of finishes that would not look out of place in a Nuno Espirito Santo gameplan.
WHERE DOES IGOR JESUS FIT IN AT FOREST?
Igor Jesus has the game intelligence to play behind the main striker as he has been known to drop deep and then help construct play, but he is really a no 9, who is fast and good in the air.
Espirito Santo loves to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, which is quick in transition, using the pace of wingers such as Anthony Elanga or wing-backs such as Ola Aina to catch teams out on the break.
Elanga could move on this summer, possibly to Newcastle, and he has not turned up for pre-season training at Forest this week, but it is not anticipated that Igor Jesus would move out wide.
Although he has operated from the wing in the past, Forest’s new signing is more of a central striker who is quick across the ground, good at link-up play, keen to get shots off and strong in the air. He will more likely deputise for and challenge Chris Wood, whose 20 Premier League goals placed him joint-fourth in the scorers’ standings last season, and make him a shoo-in to start up top – at least initially.
Forest had a remarkable campaign in 2024/25, transforming from relegation contenders to Champions League candidates, only to run out of steam in the final straight. When Wood was sidelined through injury and the goals began to dry up, his back-up Taiwo Awoniyi succumbed to yet more injury misfortune himself, leaving the Tricky Trees short of cover at the business end of the pitch and bereft of firepower.
This season, Forest also have the added complication of the UEFA Conference League. Ambitious owner Angelos Marianakis is likely to want to take it seriously, so Forest will need a bigger squad, and more signings are expected to land soon.
IS JESUS WORTH BUYING IN FPL?
We will need to keep an eye on pre-season to see how much game time Igor Jesus is given, and where he is deployed, but the suspicion is he will play back-up to Wood and get most of his minutes as a substitute and in Europe, as he acclimatises to a new league and new surroundings.
Do not be surprised if he does make an impact, though. Jesus is highly thought of in his homeland, where his followers are convinced that Forest have got themselves a bargain.
It is worth pointing out that Forest have a very benign start to the season too, with a depleted Brentford, West Ham and Sunderland their first visitors to the City Ground, where they were so imperious last season.
They also travel to Burnley in Gameweek 5, which means they could get off to a flying start in the opening six weeks of the campaign.
If Igor Jesus does have a good pre-season and Wood is suddenly sidelined, he could prove to be a budget differential from the get-go, especially bearing in mind he is a good penalty taker. The Brazilian has scored all six of the spot-kicks he has taken in his career to date.
For the time being, however, the shirt is surely Wood’s to lose.
