Rangers have signed £25M-rated Wolves attacker Fabio Silva, 21, on loan till the end of the season with, at present, no option to buy.
The forward, a Portugal U21 international, was secured on the back of Philippe Clement and Nils Koppen’s influence, and that persuaded the out-of-favour Wolves man his immediate future lay in Scotland with Rangers.
Unfortunately Silva just hasn’t kicked on in the Premier League having switched from Porto in 2020, albeit he has made a very strong 72 appearances at that level but hasn’t managed the goal return he’d have wanted, with just 5.
His strongest career indicator is an outstanding 10 in 19 with his national team, and while it didn’t quite take fire in the Premier League, elsewhere it’s 11 in 32 with Anderlecht, 5 in 19 with Eindhoven (where he had a close working relationship with Koppen) and 3 in 21 with Porto.
No, we agree, these numbers, aside his country, are not impressive, but this is a case of potential and trusting in Clement and Koppen’s judgement.
Unlike Sam Lammers at 26 whose numbers were horrendous for 5 years, this is a very young lad around Ross McCausland’s age, but a lot more advanced than Rangers’ own youth player, and it is believed he is of the right stuff that Rangers need to get firing up front.
One attribute that will definitely aid him is his height – he’s a big kid at over 6ft, which is ideal in the Scottish Premiership.
It is unknown what, if any effect, this signing will have on any potential pursuit of Lawrence Shankland.
Rangers needed at least one new body up front and now have that in Silva, and it will be deemed feasible to bring in another if possible.
As for the Portuguese, he set a tonne of records in his homeland with Porto pertaining to his age at the time, and was expected to set Europe alight, but sadly hasn’t quite reached those heights amid Wolves’ capture of him from his home city.
Other loans haven’t worked out, such as PSV and Anderlecht, but then Abdallah Sima failed badly with loans to Stoke and Angers as well, and has completely thrived under Clement at Ibrox.
So given what the manager has achieved so far, despite our slight concerns about this lad’s stuttering recent form, we give full support and are sure we’ll see the best of him from Clement.
The first signing of the new manager is secured.