The general view of Wolves’ summer business was that Wolves had had a fairly strong window.
The club brought in some really good quality players, several of whom have exciting potential.
The spending spree came somewhat out of the blue, with reports initially suggesting that Wolves needed to cash in on Ruben Neves to embark on a rebuild.
But that didn’t prove to be the case, and over £100 million was splashed.
Unfortunately, the new signings have been very underwhelming this far. Defender Nathan Collins has done well for the most part, but all the others have failed to have much of an impact.
For all the players Wolves did sign, there were several the club either failed to bring in or just ultimately didn’t move for.
One such player who was regularly linked with Wolves earlier this year was the Benfica attacker Rafa Silva.
Wanderers reportedly made some enquiries over Rafa ahead of the summer window. But a move was never forthcoming, with Wolves ultimately signing long-term target Goncalo Guedes instead.
Perhaps inevitably, Guedes has had a really poor start at Molineux. Meanwhile over in Portugal, Rafa has absolutely flourished for a rampant Benfica side.
He’s made 18 appearances across all competitions so far, and scored nine goals and laid on five assists for teammates.
Rafa made headlines last night as he hit a Champions League brace against Juventus in a 4-3 group stage win. One of the goals was an audacious flick, the other a fantastic, composed dink over the goalkeeper when one-vs-one.
Remarkably, that was Benfica’s 16th victory of the season so far. The other three games have been draws and they are yet to lose.
On social media last night, Rafa came in for huge praise from fans after picking up the Player of the Match award.
The praise included many Portugal fans begging for him to come out of international retirement ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.
How Wolves probably now wished they had a player like him in their team.
Former Molineux target Rafa Silva is in stunning form, as Wolves wilt in front of goal
Rafa, 29, is really lighting things up at the moment for Benfica, who really are the team to watch in Europe right now.
The star is at the very forefront of Benfica’s ruthlessness in the final third.
It is unclear why Wolves seemingly didn’t make a proper go of signing Rafa in the summer.
He’d just enjoyed a tremendous 2021/22 season, scoring 12 goals and making 18 assists in 45 appearances.
He was a proven performer in the final third, but Wolves decided not to make a move.
Whatever the reason, Rafa is thriving at the moment and Wolves officials are surely wishing they’d brought him to Molineux in the last window.