What shoould Wolves do next with Fabio Silva?

[wwbug]

To me the biggest two mistakes were paying 35 million for a teenager and making him No 9 not only did that put massive pressure on the lad but made him think he's better than he is

He should never have been considered as a first team option until he had proved his ability to play at a certain level.
We have had four managers that havent felt he was good enough yet.

 

[Edinburgh Wolf]

Not surprised that Fabio is scoring a few up there and him playing in Europe is obviously good, but Rangers are mostly playing dross. I'd have liked to have seen what he could do in the championship personally?

The Championship is utter dross as well. Just a different sort of dross to the Scottish Premier League, I suppose.

 

[Bill McCai]

some people do.

And the people who have that privileged access would post it on here?

 

[brianm]

3 of those players aren't fit. Lets be honest, he would be playing fairly regularly right now if we kept him here wouldn't he?

I don't know. If he kept playing like he was in autumn, no. If he was doing a job for the team, then probably.

The manager has found the strengths of an awful lot of players this season. Despite being very short numbers wise, he didn't see Fabio as being helpful for the team.

I don't really think it's a case of Gary being stubborn tactically. He actually seems quite flexible.

He would probably be trying Fabio wide at this point, much like the Rangers manager is playing him. Whether Fabio would do the defensive work enough to continue that experiment is a question.

That's in the midst of injuries to Cunha, Hwang, Neto, and even Bellegarde...pretty close to worst case scenario for that.

 

[wolfgar]

The Championship is utter dross as well. Just a different sort of dross to the Scottish Premier League, I suppose.

Yeah but pretty much any team from it would be top 3 in scotland.

 

[Bradstonian]

Seems like he's wanting to stay at Rangers...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1767215320878498266

 

[Pengwern]

Then sell, even though I think he will eventually come good, so insert a buyback clause and lots of other compensatory payments

 

[VancouverWolf]

Then sell, even though I think he will eventually come good, so insert a buyback clause and lots of other compensatory payments

Silva is not exactly a hot commodity right now so perhaps we shouldn’t make any deal harder to offload him that it needs to be.

 

[YouGottaRaulWithIt]

Seems like he's wanting to stay at Rangers...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1767215320878498266

What is he expected to say to that question? "No, I hate it here, you lot eat too much fried food and I much prefer the weather in the west midlands". No, he was as diplomatic and honest as possible in the circumstances.

 

[North West Wanderer]

And the people who have that privileged access would post it on here?

Who knows Bill? I certainly wouldn't.

 

[Ned]

I can’t help but think that with the more fluid front three we have adapted, Fabio would have been pretty well suited. He’s played up front for GON and didn’t do a great deal, admittedly, but I do feel that him coming in to the inside left position is a good source of goals for him.

 

[Bradstonian]

What is he expected to say to that question? "No, I hate it here, you lot eat too much fried food and I much prefer the weather in the west midlands". No, he was as diplomatic and honest as possible in the circumstances.

Of course I recognise that. Was just posting the link as it has appeared up here in Scotland. Interesting to read on a parallel thread about John Richards , saying how ineffectual he was for his first few years at the club before he started to shine, and I remember watching him back in the 70s. Bit ironic really.

 

[astraltrader]

Of course I recognise that. Was just posting the link as it has appeared up here in Scotland. Interesting to read on a parallel thread about John Richards , saying how ineffectual he was for his first few years at the club before he started to shine, and I remember watching him back in the 70s. Bit ironic really.

Wow if Fabio turned out to be like JR then that would be great!!

 

[Asthmatic Wolf]

Done a little digging and asking around to try and finally banish the nonsense rumours regarding Fabio's wages. Internet has him ranging from £40k to nearly £100k per week, and people (not necessarily Wolves fans) repeatedly use the high end wage figures to criticise him.

Unverified, but I believe the contract he signed when he joined was as follows:

Basic weekly wage £37k
Wage if he makes an appearance in that week £42k
Wage if he scores in that week £47k

He subsequently received a £3k per week increase to his basic, bringing that to £40k but I don't know what changed, if anything, with the bonus payments. Also unsure how those bonus payments work when he is out on loan.

There you go we should be happy he doesn’t score goals for us

 

[Asthmatic Wolf]

Yes, I don't think Fabio will make it as a PL footballer, but this is based on my rampant nationalism and not on my judgement of his footballing ability. That's why I turn up every week and cheer on Lemina, RAN, Sarabia, Gomes, Neto, Cunha, Semedo, why I still miss Raul, Mouts and Ruben.

I’ve always had you down as a fervent nationalist to be fair. I assumed your username was an instruction at a fascist rally

 

[CelebrityWolf]

The Championship is utter dross as well. Just a different sort of dross to the Scottish Premier League, I suppose.

Agreed, the championship is hugely overrated, Rangers and Celtic would walk it. No champo club is going to euro finals, Rangers and Celtic have both done that in recent times.

 

[Pseudonym]

Agreed, the championship is hugely overrated, Rangers and Celtic would walk it. No champo club is going to euro finals, Rangers and Celtic have both done that in recent times.

Opta Power Rankings suggest the Championship is considerably better than the SPL. In fact, they don't even have the SPL in the top 30 leagues in the world....

Opta Power Rankings: Top Leagues (September 2023)​

1 English Premier League 87.66
2 German Bundesliga 84.04
3 Italian Serie A 83.46
4 Spanish La Liga 83.43
5 French Ligue 1 81.41
6 English Championship 78.58
7 Dutch Eredivisie 77.24
8 Portuguese Primeira Liga 77.20
9 Belgian Pro League 77.19
10 Brazilian Serie A 76.43
11 Swiss Super League 75.72
12 Turkish Super Lig 75.65
13 Russian Premier Liga 75.08
14 Danish Superliga 75.00
15 MLS 74.77
16 Austrian Bundesliga 74.76
17 Spanish La Liga 2 74.42
18 Polish Ekstraklasa 73.88
19 Argentine Liga Prodessional 73.66
20 German 2. Bundesliga 73.62
21 Croatian HNL 73.45
22 Mexican Liga MX 73.20
23 Cypriot First Division 72.47
24 Swedish Allsvenskan 72.30
25 Japanese J1 League 72.16
26 South Korean K League 1 72.09
27 Saudi Pro League 71.94
28 Israeli Premier League 71.56
29 Romanian Liga I 71.40
30 Norwegian Eliteserien 71.33

Also, this Rangers team doesn't get promoted from the Championship. It's bang average and made up of mid-tier Champ players and other castaways.

 

[wolfslair]

Why on earth would he sign that? I wouldn't in his shoes. I'd run my contract down and walk, as is his right. His fee had nothing to do with him, so in reality he should feel no compunction towards us realising our money back.

No one will pay him exactly or close to what he earns with us on a long term deal, so financially he might stay on longer.

If he leaves us on a perm in the summer, the likely drop in pay will be large

 

[SA Wolf]

No one will pay him exactly or close to what he earns with us on a long term deal, so financially he might stay on longer.

If he leaves us on a perm in the summer, the likely drop in pay will be large

Depends what means more to him; playing or earning. He's still young, so playing might be the motivation. Of course, he will also be advised by his agent (father?) and others who's motivation may not be the same as Fabios.
Whatever happens, we'll be sadly facing a huge loss on what he cost and wages paid to date and in vfm terms, a complete ****-up from Wolves.

 

[Rowzed]

If he could become ‘the main man’ at Rangers that’s 10m at best and maybe after a couple of seasons another 5-10m from a sell on to the Championship.

He’s not going to play for Portugal or Benfica or even Burnley.

He would be happy as he’ll be winning things and we would get back what we still owe. Let’s hope he has a fantastic 4 months on loan

 

[Aurum Lupus]

No one will pay him exactly or close to what he earns with us on a long term deal, so financially he might stay on longer.

If he leaves us on a perm in the summer, the likely drop in pay will be large

I didn't say he'd leave before he got paid what our contract promised him. The post I was responding to was suggesting we get him to sign a new 5 year deal on lower wages. That's just not going to happen. If he leaves on a free at the end of his contract, he can get a big signing on bonus that might mitigate the reduction in salary. I know that's what I'd be doing.

If he leaves in the summer that signing on bonus will be significantly reduced as it seems we want £20m for him. Therefore he's not going to get a whacking big signing on fee, as that is going to us.

 

[wolfslair]

I didn't say he'd leave before he got paid what our contract promised him. The post I was responding to was suggesting we get him to sign a new 5 year deal on lower wages. That's just not going to happen. If he leaves on a free at the end of his contract, he can get a big signing on bonus that might mitigate the reduction in salary. I know that's what I'd be doing.

If he leaves in the summer that signing on bonus will be significantly reduced as it seems we want £20m for him. Therefore he's not going to get a whacking big signing on fee, as that is going to us.

I don’t think he has shown in enough that would get any club around the level is at now (I think he is good, but not suited to English football) can afford what he would want (based on his fathers actions and what he got out of the deal with us) long term even without the transfer fee.

He won’t get signed by any of the bigger clubs in the top leagues, so he will end up back either;

Back in Portugal - not a wealthy league
Holland - not a wealthy league
Belgium - not a wealthy league
Scotland - not a wealthy league
Italy - bar the bigger teams who blatantly wouldn’t take him, not a wealthy league.

He will come good in time, also sad people don’t realise the damage being thrust in too soon because Jeff ****ed up making him our number 2 at 17 with ZERO real senior experience of note…… we needed a second senior striker to allow him the time to adapt and develop.

So for all people slag off Fabio, we didn’t set him up to be successful in anyway by having him be the second choice to Raul as he was never going to be ready to fill that role…. and also not having the additional senior cover should he need taking out of the firing line to protect his confidence if he dipped in form or the chance to rotate and be developed properly.

I feel for the lad I really do!!

 

[SA Wolf]

I don’t think he has shown in enough that would get any club around the level is at now (I think he is good, but not suited to English football) can afford what he would want (based on his fathers actions and what he got out of the deal with us) long term even without the transfer fee.

He won’t get signed by any of the bigger clubs in the top leagues, so he will end up back either;

Back in Portugal - not a wealthy league
Holland - not a wealthy league
Belgium - not a wealthy league
Scotland - not a wealthy league
Italy - bar the bigger teams who blatantly wouldn’t take him, not a wealthy league.

He will come good in time, also sad people don’t realise the damage being thrust in too soon because Jeff ****ed up making him our number 2 at 17 with ZERO real senior experience of note…… we needed a second senior striker to allow him the time to adapt and develop.

So for all people slag off Fabio, we didn’t set him up to be successful in anyway by having him be the second choice to Raul as he was never going to be ready to fill that role…. and also not having the additional senior cover should he need taking out of the firing line to protect his confidence if he dipped in form or the chance to rotate and be developed properly.

I feel for the lad I really do!!

I honestly don't believe that in any way, he was brought-in to fail, I just think it was a vanity-project that went wrong. He was clearly not ready to step into Raul's boots, but had to do so, because of the injury. Had he time to develop away from the limelight, who knows and it's all conjecture, however I don't believe that even developing more slowly, with Raul to learn from, he would ever be more than a journeyman footballer. He was never the 'wonderkid' he was made out to be!
At the time of Raul's injury (Nov 20), we still had Cutrone on our books, but think he'd pretty-much burnt his bridges, so there was no direct Raul replacement, except Fabio. The club tried to remedy this in the January 21 window, by bringing in Jose (LOL), so the club did try to cover the CF position, but events didn't pan-out the way the club would have expected and Fabio was hung out to dry.
I'd like to think that the club has learnt from this episode; leaving us short in attacking options, with plenty of cover in case Hwang or Cunha should get injured, but.......

 

[Aurum Lupus]

I don’t think he has shown in enough that would get any club around the level is at now (I think he is good, but not suited to English football) can afford what he would want (based on his fathers actions and what he got out of the deal with us) long term even without the transfer fee.

He won’t get signed by any of the bigger clubs in the top leagues, so he will end up back either;

Back in Portugal - not a wealthy league
Holland - not a wealthy league
Belgium - not a wealthy league
Scotland - not a wealthy league
Italy - bar the bigger teams who blatantly wouldn’t take him, not a wealthy league.

He will come good in time, also sad people don’t realise the damage being thrust in too soon because Jeff ****ed up making him our number 2 at 17 with ZERO real senior experience of note…… we needed a second senior striker to allow him the time to adapt and develop.

So for all people slag off Fabio, we didn’t set him up to be successful in anyway by having him be the second choice to Raul as he was never going to be ready to fill that role…. and also not having the additional senior cover should he need taking out of the firing line to protect his confidence if he dipped in form or the chance to rotate and be developed properly.

I feel for the lad I really do!!

Just to be clear I feel for him too and have defended him on many occasions. He's been a victim of circumstance. However it really doesn't look like he has a future here.

I agree those are probably the leagues he's most likely to go to, and yes they won't pay anywhere near what we are paying him. Which makes him running down his contract even more likely.

 

[Pengwern]

I also feel for the lad - played too soon due to Raul’s injumry, narroly miss ed goals he could’vev scored & left out by some managers, then on loan the managers who chose him got sacked_ a series of unfortunate events!

Good luck Fabio!

 

[wolfslair]

I honestly don't believe that in any way, he was brought-in to fail, I just think it was a vanity-project that went wrong. He was clearly not ready to step into Raul's boots, but had to do so, because of the injury. Had he time to develop away from the limelight, who knows and it's all conjecture, however I don't believe that even developing more slowly, with Raul to learn from, he would ever be more than a journeyman footballer. He was never the 'wonderkid' he was made out to be!
At the time of Raul's injury (Nov 20), we still had Cutrone on our books, but think he'd pretty-much burnt his bridges, so there was no direct Raul replacement, except Fabio. The club tried to remedy this in the January 21 window, by bringing in Jose (LOL), so the club did try to cover the CF position, but events didn't pan-out the way the club would have expected and Fabio was hung out to dry.
I'd like to think that the club has learnt from this episode; leaving us short in attacking options, with plenty of cover in case Hwang or Cunha should get injured, but.......

You misunderstood my post I think. I am saying that we signed him to succeed based on him learning from Raul, who was never out of the team. So they gambled on him not picking up a major injury. He did and immediately before he was ready he was in the spotlight and lost the developmental plan that was in place. No fault of his own!

But to have signed Fabio meant we still needed a second senior striker.

That is what I meant

 

[Thank you Sir Jack]

I wonder if Clement uses an Och I-Pad?

 

[glorybox]

Honestly, would he do any worse than Bellegarde?

 

[SA Wolf]

You misunderstood my post I think. I am saying that we signed him to succeed based on him learning from Raul, who was never out of the team. So they gambled on him not picking up a major injury. He did and immediately before he was ready he was in the spotlight and lost the developmental plan that was in place. No fault of his own!

But to have signed Fabio meant we still needed a second senior striker.

That is what I meant

Gotcha, thanks.

 

[JOSWolf]

I have said before on this thread but I still think he will come good. Unfortunately I dont think it will be with us now, which is a shame.

 

[SA Wolf]

Honestly, would he do any worse than Bellegarde?

I think he would. Bellegarde has not fulfilled his potential at Wolves, but works hard and has contributed with goals and assists (2 goals and 1 assist), including that fantastic turn and run for the Lemina goal against Brighton. I can't imagine Fabio doing that .

Bellegarde is a 'GON player', someone who works his socks off, fits in with the team dynamic and has a high improvement threshold when he settles within the Prem. Fabio is the complete opposite from the little I've seen of him, having been criticised by Lage for poor training, and no significant improvement, albeit from limited opportunities in the first-team. However, players have to earn first-team opportunities and Fabio hasn't done that.

 

[wolfslair]

I think he would. Bellegarde has not fulfilled his potential at Wolves, but works hard and has contributed with goals and assists (2 goals and 1 assist), including that fantastic turn and run for the Lemina goal against Brighton. I can't imagine Fabio doing that .

Bellegarde is a 'GON player', someone who works his socks off, fits in with the team dynamic and has a high improvement threshold when he settles within the Prem. Fabio is the complete opposite from the little I've seen of him, having been criticised by Lage for poor training, and no significant improvement, albeit from limited opportunities in the first-team. However, players have to earn first-team opportunities and Fabio hasn't done that.

Didn’t bellegardes goals all come before he moved to cover the central role?

His impact since he did anything as the central striking option has been very poor, where you could honestly forget he was even on the pitch at all……

Good cam/wide option but never a central one in a month of Sundays up top

 

[SA Wolf]

Didn’t bellegardes goals all come before he moved to cover the central role?

His impact since he did anything as the central striking option has been very poor, where you could honestly forget he was even on the pitch at all……

Good cam/wide option but never a central one in a month of Sundays up top

Agreed. Just commenting on whether I would prefer Bellegarde or Silva in the team, not where I would play them. It could be argued that neither Hwang nor Cunha are central strikers, both coming from wide (Hwang) or deep (Cunha), so we have got to 9th in the Prem without a central striker. I realise that Fraser is now in that role, but that is mainly due to injuries, otherwise GON would have continued with the fluid front three.

 

[Contrarian]

Honestly, would he do any worse than Bellegarde?

Fraser didn't, either. And Bellegarde cost £15m, so a £35m striker really should be better than a £15 attacking midfielder played out of position. That we even make these comparisons shows how keen we are to get something out of Fabio: "He might be better than a player that cost less than half he cost, being played out of position - bring him back!!!"

Don't get me wrong, this is not blaming Fabio. I think we should keep himn and loan him out, as we have. The fee was always the main problem with Fabio. It was far too much and has damaged his development. He needs to develop his game and he couldn't do that when thrown in the deep end of the Premier League. I'm still not sure he could even now. Better build his confidence at a club like Rangers playing Championship level opposition.

I think Fabio is in a good place for his current stage of development. Interesting reading what Rangers fans think of him as they have less emotionally (and financially!) invested in him than us. They generally think he's a good player with potential. But nowhere near worth the fee we paid for him. Their consensus is that he's good, but they could get equal or better for significantly less than we would sell him for. As I said, the fee was always the main problem and it wasn't his fault that it's hindered his development due to the extra pressure and expectation that fee and associated hype created.

 

[WolfLing]

Didn’t bellegardes goals all come before he moved to cover the central role?

His impact since he did anything as the central striking option has been very poor, where you could honestly forget he was even on the pitch at all……

Good cam/wide option but never a central one in a month of Sundays up top

But if Fabio was in instead of Bellegarde, he wouldn't be afforded the same patience.

No one expects Bellegarde to do anything playing out of position. Anything he contributes is a bonus.

Stick Fabio there, and if he performed no better or worse than Bellegarde, it wouldn't be good enough. He'd be measured on goals, or lack of goals.

Same with Fraser to a degree. No ones expects much, but any goals or assists are a bonus.

Fabio's fee has meant he will never succeed here, as the expectation of what he should be bringing is always too high.

 

[wwbug]

Of course I recognise that. Was just posting the link as it has appeared up here in Scotland. Interesting to read on a parallel thread about John Richards , saying how ineffectual he was for his first few years at the club before he started to shine, and I remember watching him back in the 70s. Bit ironic really.

I don't recall John Richards being ineffectual for a few years.
Wikipedia also states - he made his debut at the end 69/70 . By 1971/72 he had helped us qualify for Europe with 13 goals.So one fallow season - aged 20 .
But John Richards was exceptional. There is nothing to suggest Silva will be.

 

[WalsallWolf]

Honestly, would he do any worse than Bellegarde?

Could you ever see Silva turning a player like Bellegarde did against Brighton?

 

[brianm]

Honestly, would he do any worse than Bellegarde?

Did you watch him in autumn?

He was a lot worse than a passenger.

 

[Mile End Wanderer]

Silva puts in the work rate attacking left could be his new position never going to be physical enough to lead the line…. Sounds really happy at Rangers. Could it be another loan with contract extension?

 

[Ned]

I don’t think he has shown in enough that would get any club around the level is at now (I think he is good, but not suited to English football) can afford what he would want (based on his fathers actions and what he got out of the deal with us) long term even without the transfer fee.

He won’t get signed by any of the bigger clubs in the top leagues, so he will end up back either;

Back in Portugal - not a wealthy league
Holland - not a wealthy league
Belgium - not a wealthy league
Scotland - not a wealthy league
Italy - bar the bigger teams who blatantly wouldn’t take him, not a wealthy league.

He will come good in time, also sad people don’t realise the damage being thrust in too soon because Jeff ****ed up making him our number 2 at 17 with ZERO real senior experience of note…… we needed a second senior striker to allow him the time to adapt and develop.

So for all people slag off Fabio, we didn’t set him up to be successful in anyway by having him be the second choice to Raul as he was never going to be ready to fill that role…. and also not having the additional senior cover should he need taking out of the firing line to protect his confidence if he dipped in form or the chance to rotate and be developed properly.

I feel for the lad I really do!!

Agree with this 100%. I also think that Nuno needs to carry a portion of the blame as well; he could/should have tweaked the system and style to make up for the lack of Raul. What happened was Fabio came in and was asked to play like Raul for an entire season, often isolated and feeding off scraps - particularly that season.