Lage hints at possible position change for Wolves record signing Silva

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It’s no secret that Fabio Silva will want his second season in English football to be better than his first.

After arriving for a club record fee just under £36 million, four Premier League goals and three assists was a disappointment.

Bruno Lage is the man who has to figure out how to get more out of the Portuguese teenager this term.

And as per the Athletic, he has hinted that he might try and teach Silva how to play more as a number 10 this season.

“Little things he can understand better,” Lage said of Silva. “The position. He knows how to work as a main striker. Maybe he can start to learn how to play as a second striker. Different little details – when to time his runs.

“Don’t make the same run every time, wait for the right moment. If you always do the same movement, the defenders know; ‘He’ll run every time’. So work with him on counter-movements.

“It’s also important how to press against three defenders, how to press against two defenders, these sort of things. He is 19, so he has time. But he needs to start to show things.

“I say, ‘I need to see things now’, but I cannot put pressure on him. ‘Now you have to replace Raul?!’ No! So they have time to work on it but… don’t take too much time!”

Maybe a positional change is what Silva needs to make the improvements needed to succeed at Wolves.

Last season, he was charged with leading the line solo, which is something he doesn’t have the personality or physique to do.

Perhaps working in the hole, with Jimenez ahead of him could work better. It’s worth a try, rather than just repeating what happened last season and hoping for the best.

Lage has a reputation for bringing through young players and is hands-on in training, so he’ll hope to help Silva take strides this season.

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