The Athletic’s Wolverhampton Wanderers correspondent Tim Spiers has recently discussed Portuguese youngster Fabio Silva.
During the summer transfer window, the Old Gold forked out a whopping £35.6m to seal Silva’s arrival from Portuguese outfit FC Porto (per BBC).
Following his arrival at Molineux, the 18-year-old attacker has made six appearances for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side in all competitions in which he has neither scored nor assisted a goal (per Transfermarkt).
However, following the recent serious injury to Raul Jimenez and the fact that Silva is the only fit out-and-out striker in Wolves’ first-team squad, more minutes for the youngster may be on the cards.
During the latest episode of The Athletic’s The Molineux View podcast, Spiers stated that the injury to Jimenez gave Wolves a “major issue” and he discussed Silva.
He said: “There’s a major issue for Wolves here, in that their perhaps most indispensable player [Jimenez] is not going to be available for the time being.
“For Sunday’s trip to Liverpool, we will see, probably, Fabio Silva start up front. He did okay [against Arsenal], I mean, he didn’t win a header, which isn’t great.
“There were lots of short passes and link-up play. He did a good job of defending from the front and he worked really hard and his commitment was there.
“In terms of linking up with those behind him, not so much, although he played a part in the first goal, but that’ll come, hopefully, with time.
“I think from knowing Wolves as I do, in terms of their reluctance to go out and buy players for the sake of it, what they’ll do is they’ll watch Silva very closely for the next few weeks, if indeed he does start now, and they’ll see if they think he’s up to it in the short term.”
TIF Thoughts on what Tim Spiers said about Fabio Silva…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, he believes that Silva was “okay” when he came on against the Gunners and that he will improve with more minutes.
However, Spiers did also state that it is a “major issue” for Wolves that they will be without Raul Jimenez and they will “watch Silva very closely” to determine if they need to sign another striker.
Would you trust Fabio Silva to be a first-team starter for Wolves?
No, he's not good enough
Yes, he's a good player
While the Portuguese frontman has made five league appearances for Wolves this term, they have all come as substitute outings and amounted to just 116 minutes (per WhoScored).
Having said that, his performances have been unimpressive as he has delivered a weak 6.07/10 average rating, making him the second-worst performer to feature for the Old Gold in the Premier League this term.
So, if Nuno Espirito Santo does end up having to start Silva while Jimenez is injured, hopefully, for the young striker and Wolves, his performances improve with regular game time.
The fact that he bagged two goals in his one appearance for Wolves’ academy side, which came against Doncaster Rovers in the EFL Trophy, certainly proved that Silva is capable of finding the back of the net.