Wolves record signing Fabio Silva has not had the best start to the season under Bruno Lage.
Silva was hooked at half-time in the EFL Cup exit against Tottenham and dropped to the Under 23s on Monday night.
Their manager James Collins said it was just because the young hitman was rusty and needed a game.
In fairness, he did score a goal and now Bruno Lage has spoken about where Silva is in his plans ahead of today’s clash with Newcastle.
As per the club website, he said: “Fabio is in my plans. What is important for someone of his age is not to run away from a challenge. The challenge is here. If you’re going to find the best solutions to play, you find comfort.
“But football is not about comfort. It’s about fighting for what you want, and it’s good when you get what you want if you’ve earned it on the pitch, training hard every day.
“This is not about Fabio, but in general, because Fabio works very hard every day. I have a past of working with young kids and I know they want things to happen very quickly.
“I’m 45, I don’t think I’m an old guy, but in my life, I’ve had to work for everything. Today, everyone wants to put young players in their first team but after they need to fight, they need to show me things first.”
Silva had a tricky first campaign at Molineux and he might have hoped that the appointment of Lage, with his background in youth coaching, would have put him in the side.
But with Raul Jimenez back, Silva has had to be patient and it’s clear Lage wants to see more from him.
Now Wolves are out of the EFL Cup, it’s hard to see where Silva’s next start is coming from.
But Lage has laid down the gauntlet for the striker; don’t run away from Molineux, stay and fight for your place. Time will tell what he decides to do.
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