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Wolverhampton Wanderers have struggled at the start of this campaign, taking four points from their opening six matches, prompting fears of a relegation battle looming.
While constant changes to their managerial staff have contributed to their plight down the Premier League table, the biggest punishment being served to the Old Gold is from the Financial Fair Play (FFP) constraints placed on the club this summer.
In order to comply with FFP and free up funds, Wolves had to reluctantly offload two of their stars as Matheus Nunes joined Manchester City for £53m and their Portuguese maestro, Ruben Neves, moved to Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal for £47m.
That duo were influential during their times at the club and indicated the astute and accurate business the club has done in recent times. On the other hand, Fabio Silva is a primary example of the constant misjudgment and poor decisions that Wolves have made in the transfer market.
How much did Wolves pay for Fabio Silva?
Signed in the summer of 2020 for a club record fee of £35.6m from Porto, Fabio Silva arrived as a wonderkid teen, lauded by some as the next Ronaldo, and expected to become the future heir to Raul Jimenez.
With the weight of expectation weighing heavy on the youngster’s shoulders, Silva has become one of the many young players to crumble under the pressure after comparisons were drawn towards arguably the greatest Portuguese player of all time.
In his three years at the club, Silva has failed to leave his mark at Molineux, chalking up 11 goal contributions in 68 appearances, with the 21-year-old struggling to live up to the hype that his formative years promised.
Having joined as a prodigious talent, who featured on the European stage for Porto at just 17-years-old, the 6 foot 1 striker has become victim to the praise directed towards him previously as demonstrated by words from Portuguese teammate Bruno Fernandes, who once said.
“When Ronaldo was 17, he played as a centre-forward for Sporting’s youth teams. I saw him doing things that I’m now seeing a boy from FC Porto do, Fabio Silva. In a short time, he will be an extraordinary striker.”
Being compared to the five-time Ballon d’Or winner in the past has only heightened his struggles in the Midlands, however, coming to life in his two loan spells away from the club last season has perhaps offered Wolves hope that the best is yet to come from the youngster.
In 32 appearances for Anderlecht, he recorded 15 goal contributions while at PSV Eindhoven he tailed off a bit, scoring five in 19 appearances.
How much does Fabio Silva earn?
Picking up a weekly wage of £80k, Silva is remarkably the club’s second-highest earner behind Pablo Sarabia, highlighting how Wolves have burned transfer fees and wages on players who have significantly underperformed.
Despite showing promise while out on loan, the Portuguese has returned to his familiar struggles, averaging a lowly Sofascore rating of 6.64 at the start of this Premier League season, having started three times and failed to find the net.
Underpinning the reason behind the forward’s struggles is difficult but considering Wolves are shelling out a salary of £4.1m a year for the player suggests he should be producing better performances than what they are receiving from him.
To put his nightmare spell into perspective, he has cost the club a total of £43.8m in three years, adding together the initial transfer wee and wage expenditure (excluding his wages paid by PSV & Anderlecht).
During that time, every goal Silva has scored so far – all five of them – has cost the Old Gold a whopping £8.7m per strike. Damning indeed.
If the 21-year-old doesn’t manage to turn his Wolves career around, he will likely go down as pound-for-pound one of the worst signings in Wolves history.
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