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With a skateboard in hand at his Nottingham Forest unveiling, it was immediately obvious that Gustavo Scarpa is not the standard Brazilian playmaker.
He is more a guitar-playing, literature-loving, Rubik’s Cube-solving sort of player, with an influencer-sized Instagram following of 1.2m and plenty of accolades to confirm he is very much a genuine football talent.
When asked to describe himself, the 28-year-old smiled and said: “I’m a very cool person.
“I like to hang out with my family, my wife, my friends. I love to skateboard. It’s a very different style of life.”
The skateboarding tutorials he features in and sky dive videos on his YouTube channel are all testament to that.
Scarpa laughs as he freely admits that skateboarding probably makes up “too much” of his life – but for all the right reasons.
“It’s a big part,” Scarpa told East Midlands Today. “It helps me a lot in my mind to keep me calm.
“In the beginning it was like a hobby and now it’s almost like a lifestyle.”
Scarpa became Forest’s 23rd signing of the season when he signed for the Reds at the start of December.
While he has featured in friendlies for the club during the World Cup break, his move from Brazilian champions Palmeiras will not be confirmed until the transfer window opens on 1 January.
With Palmeiras he won eight major trophies in six years, including the Copa Libertadores twice, two Brazilian league titles and the Brazilian Cup.
He only has one cap for Brazil – in 2017 – and was overlooked for their World Cup squad, but he has been recognised as the Brasileiro Serie A’s best player with a number of individual honours, including the ESPN Brasil Golden Ball – an award previously won by Neymar and Ronaldinho.
Scarpa has described his move to the Premier League with Forest – a side in the relegation places following their top-flight return after a 23-year absence – as a “dream”.
For all that sets him apart off the field, however, what Scarpa wants to deliver on the pitch at his new club is much more straightforward.
“I try to score some goals and give some assists, but I’ll be hard working for sure,” he said.
