Wolves have sent Fabio Silva on a loan move to Rangers for the rest of this season, now Matt Hobbs has had his say.
Fabio Silva is in the midst of what was seen as a do-or-die season at Molineux and so far, it’s been more the latter for the 21-year-old. Silva has made just eight appearances in the Premier League – with just three starts, averaging 35 minutes per game – and hasn’t played in nearly two months.
The Portugal U21 ace last featured for Wolves in a 2-1 defeat against Sheffield United with Silva playing just nine minutes – in which he gave away a penalty – scoring a 5.1 match rating on SofaScore.
This followed a string of poor results against Liverpool, Manchester City and Aston Villa through September and October – in which Silva was ineffective at best.
Now though, the striker has been handed a new lease of life this campaign as a loan move to Rangers was confirmed by the club. As this was confirmed Wolves’ sporting director, Matt Hobbs, shared his verdict on the move and how it could benefit Silva.
Matt Hobbs gives verdict on Fabio Silva’s loan to Rangers
As Wolves announced Silva’s temporary departure – Hobbs shared his verdict on the move. In which he explained that he finds the move a positive one.
“This is a simple one – Fabio needs to play. He’s not getting enough opportunities here, so it’s a chance to go out and score goals and we’ll look at the future in the summer. Rangers don’t have a buying option, but hopefully, he plays and scores goals and we’ll see where we’re at in the summer.
“He’s a young centre forward and because of his move, we sometimes think he’s older than he is. A lot of centre forwards take time to understand their game, and find confidence and their role within a team. That comes with experience, and you have to play games. He played a lot at Anderlecht and was in and out at PSV, so it’s imperative he gets football now.
“It’s a big club playing in Europe, in a competition they had a good run in recently. Credit to Fabio, it’s a brave move because there was lots of interest and he could have stayed in his comfort zone, maybe with better weather than Scotland, or less competitive football, but he wanted to test him. It showed a good understanding of what he needs himself, so all parties are happy.
“In the summer we’ll sit down and see how it’s gone and make a decision on the next steps. I’ll go to watch him myself and he’s got some big games, so it should be a really good loan for developing Fabio.”
Silva’s move away from Wolves is a long time coming
Silva’s departure from Wolves was always likely to happen given the fact he was close to leaving in the summer before remaining at the club. His move to the Scottish capital transpired fast as just last week Rangers’ first interest was reported.
Previous loans have benefitted Silva – including top displays with Anderlecht and PSV during the 2022/23 campaign – so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him thrive up north, something Gary O’Neil will be keen to see.
Silva has the chance to build some tremendous confidence at the Ibrox with Rangers given they are better than move sides in the division and he really could take the opportunity to score a handful.