A stable Premier League club since the 2018/2019 season, Wolverhampton was built around the portfolio of Jorge Mendes in particular. The influential Portuguese agent has never stopped placing his foes within the English club, whether players or coaches. A method which served the Wolves sportingly but which also had certain limits. One of them is Fabio Silva and he represents one of Wolverhampton’s biggest mistakes in recent years. Then a young Portuguese talent from FC Porto, the striker who was only 18 years old had just won the Portuguese championship a year after winning the Youth League with the Dragons (5 goals and 4 assists in 9 matches). Great promises, but few certainties for a player who had played only 21 first team matches for 3 goals and 2 goals. However, this did not cool Wolverhampton who bet 40 million euros to afford it.
Following in the footsteps of another FC Porto nugget, Ruben Neves, who then shone with Wolves, Fabio Silva also had the nickname “new Cristiano Ronaldo” since he was 15. A comparison to which he returned with pride during an interview with Sports Bible : “it’s something that fills me with pride. Being compared to the player I admire the most in world football gives me more motivation to continue working and improving. For me, Ronaldo is the best in the history of football, so to be compared to such a legendary player. It’s an incredible feeling.” However, on the Wolverhampton side, his adventure did not go as planned. Playing only 72 matches for a disappointing performance of 5 goals and 6 goals, the striker could not get rid of the competition from Raul Jiménez and Hwang-Hee Chan. Blocked within the English club, he then started a series of loans.
From industrial disaster to the Portuguese selection
Firstly in Anderlecht where his first steps were tinged with optimism. Then author of 11 goals (4 assists) in 32 matches, he produced encouraging performances which quickly reached Bruno Lage, the Wolves coach: “I hope he can grow and become important for us next season (…) I hope he takes the same path as Morgan Gibbs-White. We loaned him to Swansea for six months, then to Sheffield United for a season. Today, at 22, he is a top player. Last year he didn’t score a single goal, now he’s scored four (eleven now, editor’s note). It’s about finding the best environment to continue growing, being happy and scoring goals. Sometimes a different environment can help. Fabio left, but extended his contract. He is still our player and we are happy with that.” Unfortunately the change of coach within the Mauves disrupted his loan. At odds with new coach Brian Riemer, he requested the end of his loan and went to PSV Eindhoven. A mixed experience (5 goals and 2 goals in 19 matches) where he could not express himself behind Luuk de Jong. Then returning to Wolverhampton where he was behind Matheus Cunha in the hierarchy, Fabio Silva had another disappointing stint with his club (10 matches, 1 goal).
The Wolves then opted for a new loan to Glasgow Rangers, but that did not work either with 6 goals in 25 matches. Faced with this series of failed or at best mixed experiences, Fabio Silva therefore set off for Spain this summer to join Las Palmas. A fourth loan for the 22-year-old, but this time it’s different. Within the Canary Islands training, he discovered a lot of confidence and flourished perfectly in a pleasant environment. “I have played for many teams, but this is the League that I like the most. The culture, my Spanish is not bad… I always watch the games and I like the way we play because I like having the ball, playing more team football. Here we have these qualities to play like that, to have the ball, I really like being here, I really enjoy it. When you feel good in the club, with the people, with the staff… I have been very happy since my arrival. People give me love every day and, on the pitch, it’s easy with the quality we have in the team. I really like playing here. Then, on an individual level, things come naturally“, he confided recently at a press conference.
Author of 5 goals and 2 offerings in 12 matches, he helped Las Palmas escape from the red zone to now occupy 14th place in the standings. Enough to even convince the Portuguese coach to call him up for the selection for the first time last November. He played 19 minutes against Croatia (1-1). “We have followed Fábio Silva for many months, because he is a player who has a lot of good movements, who has the ability to open spaces, to play in depth. Going to a new club gave him more impact in the box, his statistics improved a lot. He’s a different player, there’s no Fábio Silva in the national team at the moment. He worked hard and deserves to be at this level now», then justified the Portuguese coach Roberto Martinez in O Jogo. A great revenge for Fabio Silva who must now continue his momentum and prove it over time. In any case the main interested party wants to rely on what is happening in Las Palmas to definitively forget his flop on the side of Wolverhampton: “I want to enjoy here. If I do things right, the future will be good, so everything must be like this“. That’s all we wish for him.
