Steve Cooper has needed to warn new Nottingham Forest signing Gustavo Scarpa to maintain his methods for the soccer area and never the half-pipe.
Scarpa signed for Forest on a free switch earlier than Christmas following the expiry of his contract at Brazilian membership Palmeiras.
The 29-year-old, who made his debut from the bench within the 1-0 win at Southampton in midweek, is a eager skateboarder and sometimes showcases his expertise on social media.
Cooper accepts that artistic gamers typically want an outlet away from the sport however doesn’t need his proficient playmaker, who’s prone to begin in Saturday’s FA Cup third-round conflict with Blackpool, to place himself in danger.
“It’s something we’ve had to have a conversation with him about,” Cooper stated. “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, who may resolve a Rubik’s Cube in 37 seconds, wants time to adapt to the English sport, however an FA Cup sport in January at Bloomfield Road may very well be the right introduction.
“I think we have to be careful, he’s not started and in an ideal world, he would have played more during the break,” Cooper added.
“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.
“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.”
