Wolves had a nightmare in Fabio Silva transfer | OneFootball

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Football FanCast

·14 October 2021

Wolves had a nightmare in Fabio Silva transfer

Article image:Wolves had a nightmare in Fabio Silva transfer

While Jeff Shi and Fosun have secured a number of impressive signings for Wolverhampton Wanderers in recent seasons, including the likes of Raul Jimenez, Adama Traore, Ruben Neves and Diogo Jota, the Wolves board have also been wide of the mark with a few additions to the first-team squad.

And, while criticism may come across as slightly harsh considering he is still yet to celebrate his 20th birthday, the fact that Fabio Silva cost the club a whopping £36m last summer, coupled with the 19-year-old’s poor returns so far in a Wolves shirt, means that the deal to sign the centre-forward must be put down as something of a nightmare for Fosun.


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£13.5m out of pocket

Firstly, we will look at Silva’s returns on the pitch, as, regardless of the fee paid to secure his signing, the teenager’s performances at Molineux have simply not cut the mustard thus far.

Indeed, over his 32 Premier League appearances during his debut season for Wolves last term, the £37k-per-week striker found the back of the net on just four occasions, registered three assists and created one big chance for his teammates, as well as hitting the target with an average of 0.5 shots and completing a mere 0.3 key passes per game.

These returns saw the Portugal U21 international earn a disappointing seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.67, ranking him as the club’s eighth-worst performer in the top flight last time out.

Things have not got much better for Silva in the current campaign, with the player Gary Neville claimed has “no real energy” having failed to score or provide an assist, as well as averaging a SofaScore match rating of just 6.57 over his four league appearances – although, admittedly, the youngster has not started any of these fixtures.

Perhaps these returns would be slightly more palatable if Silva was a graduate of the Wolves academy, as it is only natural for a younger player – particularly one who has left his motherland – to take time to adjust to what is arguably the most challenging league in world football.

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Article image:Wolves had a nightmare in Fabio Silva transfer

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However, unfortunately for Silva, Wolves did shell out a significant amount of money for his services – money which, at present, looks to have been a rather poor investment, especially when considering the striker’s Transfermarkt value is currently sitting at £22.5m – a figure £13.5m less than his initial transfer fee.

As such, while there is still plenty of time for Silva to come good at Molineux, as things currently stand, his signing looks to have been something of a nightmare deal for Fosun.

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