Wolves: Lage must unleash Fabio Silva vs Liverpool in the Premier League | OneFootball

After 14 games played, Wolves have scored the second-fewest goals in the Premier League thus far, finding the back of the net just 12 times. -only 19th-placed Norwich City have scored fewer (8).

Despite this, the West Midlands club sit just one point off of the top-six, largely down to their solidity at the back. In fact, only Chelsea (6) and Manchester City (8) have conceded fewer goals than Wolves (12) this term.

However, their attacking woes are certainly a cause for concern. Together, Hwang Hee-Chan (4) and Raúl Jiménez (3) have scored over half of Wolves’ Premier League goals with three coming from defenders, one from a midfielder (Ruben Neves) and the other an own-goal.

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The attacking trio of Daniel Podence, Francisco Trincão and Adama Traoré are all yet to score in the Premier League this season, despite a combined 1,954 minutes of action, which begs the question: what must Bruno Lage change?

It’s clear to see that a change of personnel in the Wolves forward line would do no harm and 19-year-old Fábio Silva could be the man to turn to.

The Portuguese forward was purchased for £36m from Porto last summer by previous manager Nuno Espirito Santo, having been dubbed as “the new Cristiano Ronaldo”.

However, Silva’s fellow countryman Lage has offered the youngster very few opportunities, with the striker playing just 36 minutes of Premier League football this season.

Furthermore, it appears that Silva is yet to win over Wolves fans, with journalist Tim Spiers claiming that the 19-year-old has taken “enormous stick”.

Nuno certainly showed faith in the Porto academy product, handing him 32 league appearances last season, in which he scored four goals. It wasn’t the best goals return, but for a then 18-year-old, there was certainly promise on display.

Despite the current first-choice striker at the club being Jimenez, whose place in the side looks all but certain, there is an opportunity for Silva to feature more regularly under Lage; he will have to improvise though.

With the 45-year-old manager regularly deploying a 3-4-3 formation, Silva would have to operate as a winger to get into the side. This is a task the youngster should grab with both hands.

Despite Hwang, none of the wide men at Wolves have impressed, particularly Adama Traore who, once again, has proven frustrating for the Molineux faithful with little end product offered this term.

Ahead of Wolves’ next game against Liverpool, Lage said: “Fabio is important for us. He’s a young talent. Me and my staff have a pathway for the youth. Luis (Nascimento) worked with Fabio before so we see potential in him.

“He needs to continue to work and wait for that chance. He needs to work for today and work for tomorrow.

“He’s doing well and we are happy with him, but sometimes I prefer to take different solutions to protect the result.”

The Portuguese manager has also denied claims that Silva could be loaned out in January so, with a busy festive period to come, now is the time to unleash the £22.5m-rated Silva and for the 19-year-old to secure a regular place in the Wolves setup.