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Wolves: Tim Spiers airs belief that Nuno Santo ‘doesn’t trust’ Fabio Silva

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Image for Wolves: Tim Spiers airs belief that Nuno Santo ‘doesn’t trust’ Fabio Silva

The Athletic’s Wolverhampton Wanderers correspondent Tim Spiers has aired his belief that Nuno Espirito Santo ‘doesn’t trust’ Fabio Silva.

During the summer transfer window, the Old Gold forked out a whopping £35.6m to seal the arrival of the Portuguese youngster from FC Porto (per BBC).

Since his arrival at Molineux, the 18-year-old attacker has made seven senior appearances for Wolves in which he has neither scored nor assisted (per Transfermarkt).

Following the recent injury to Raul Jimenez, Silva is the only fit out-and-out striker in the first-team squad, however, he still did not start in the 4-0 defeat against Liverpool.

In the latest episode of The Athletic’s The Molineux View podcast, Spiers discussed the Portuguese striker and aired his belief that Nuno Santo “doesn’t trust” him.

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To kick off this quiz on Romain Saiss, what squad number does the defensive midfielder currently wear for the Old Gold?

He said: “The Silva issue is a big one. Nuno clearly doesn’t trust him or else I think he would have started [against Liverpool].

“You’ve got to remember he’s 18. We’re kind of asking Silva to be Raul Jimenez, not just in terms of goals, not just in terms of assists, but link-up play, headers, creativity, passing, defending from the front.

“It’s too much to ask of Silva, I think – even Jimenez wasn’t Jimenez when he was 18. It took him many years to get to the level he’s at now, so to ask Silva to be Jimenez now is too much.

“I think it’s also got the potential to damage the lad’s self-belief as well – if he comes in [and] doesn’t score, he suddenly becomes a national story. I think they want to nurture him carefully and slowly.

“He’s got tremendous potential and great technique and he can score goals at youth level, but the intensity and the physicality of the Premier League, while learning a new system, while getting used to new teammates, I think is too much to ask.”

TIF Thoughts on what Tim Spiers said about Fabio Silva…

As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, he believes that Nuno Santo “doesn’t trust” Silva, however, it is too early to expect much from the attacker.

Do you think Fabio Silva should be starting more games for Wolves?

No, he's not ready for it

No, he's not ready for it

Yes, he should be playing

Yes, he should be playing

While Jimenez has made 10 league appearances this term and Silva has made six substitute appearances in the Premier League, it is clear from their stats that the two are not at the same level.

Jimenez has averaged 2.6 shots, 0.5 key passes and 1.0 dribbles per league match this term whereas Silva has taken 1.0 shots, made 0.3 key passes and performed 0.2 dribbles (per WhoScored).

However, Silva is 11 years younger than his Wolves counterpart and as Spiers mentioned, the youngster does not have anywhere near the experience of Jimenez.

So, perhaps it is right that Nuno Santo does not trust Silva at this moment in time as he may not be ready for that pressure despite his hefty price tag.

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