Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper has revealed that he has spoken to recent signing Gustavo Scarpa about his skateboarding antics off the pitch.
The 29-year-old recently completed his move to the City Ground from Brazilian side Palmeiras, and impressed the Forest faithful on his debut in midweek. Scarpa came off the bench to replace Morgan Gibbs-White in the 1-0 win at Southampton.
But the Brazilian midfielder also enjoys life away from football as he often documents it on social media. He is a keen skateboarder and can also solve a Rubik's Cube in 37 seconds.
READ MORE: Pundit predicts shock Nottingham Forest reverse for Blackpool clash
READ MORE: Nottingham Forest receive response as Steve Cooper 'considers' Everton transfer
While Cooper accepts players need a way to express themselves away from football, he does not want the talented star to put himself at risk. "It’s something we’ve had to have a conversation with him about," he said.
"Listen, if you want these guys to express themselves on the field, sometimes they also have to express themselves off the pitch as well. I learnt that a little bit with England, we had all these amazing young talents, sometimes these creative players are creative people. You have to embrace that.
"That’s the world we live in now – you have to give license to people to be who they are. As long as they stay within the guidelines, a little bit. That’s what I keep telling myself about these guys, you want them to be risk-takers and creative players. If they’re confident on the pitch they need to be the same way off the pitch, there is no problem for me."
Scarpa is in line to make a second successive appearance at Bloomfield Road when Forest take on Blackpool in the FA Cup third-round tie this afternoon (3pm kick-off). "Saturday is an opportunity for Gustavo, not only as a chance to play well and win the game, but also to get used to English football. If we can do that we will," Cooper added.
"I think we have to be careful, he’s not started and in an ideal world, he would have played more during the break. But we said he wasn’t quite right physically so we couldn’t do as much of that, plus we knew he couldn’t play until this week anyway.
"He’s had an individual programme that we’ve been working on that would’ve helped everything for him, physical and psychological. We will be pushing him and supporting him. The more we can expose these guys to English football for the first time, the better."
What did you make of Scarpa's performance last time out? Let us know in the comments section...
READ NEXT:
- Nottingham Forest receive response as Steve Cooper 'considers' Everton transfer
- Forest notebook: Bowler's Robin Hood moment, transfer deal 'changes', new trend
- Cooper responds to Nottingham Forest exit rumours as transfer stance explained
- Nottingham Forest braced for radical changes as new Premier League proposals revealed
- Nottingham Forest legend makes 'unbelievable' prediction after club completes transfer
