Wolverhampton wanders

Massive clubs now want Wolves outcast who’s barely featured under O’Neil

Published

6 months ago

December 22, 2023

Gary O’Neil only took over as the Wolves manager on 9 August after the shock resignation of Julen Lopetegui in the week leading up to the start of the new Premier League season.

While he was able to make some signings of his own before the end of the month,

landing Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Santiago Bueno and Enso Gonzalez on permanent deals and loaning Tommy Doyle from Manchester City,

he’ll still want the opportunity to put his stamp on the squad over a full window.

January will be the first opportunity to do just that, and while incomings will be the focus for Wolves supporters,

O’Neil also has the chance to shed some of the players who aren’t part of his plans too. And one of those deals may already be in the works.

Fabio Silva fails to justify Wolves investment

Wolves broke their transfer record to sign Fabio Silva from Porto in 2020 for a fee of £35.6m, even though,

at the age of 18, he’d only scored three goals for the senior side the previous season.

After two seasons at Molineux, he was sent out on loan twice in 2022/23, spending the first half of the campaign with Anderlecht in Belgium before

switching to PSV in the Netherlands in the new year.

Silva struck 11 times, and added four assists, in 32 appearances for Anderlecht, and tacked five more onto his seasonal tally at PSV.

But despite that decent form, he’s hardly featured since his return to Molineux.

The Portuguese ace has amassed a mere 373 minutes under O’Neil and started only three Premier League games,

the last of which was the 3-2 defeat to Crystal Palace at the start of September.

He’s appeared in just one of the last nine league matches for the Wolves, and none of the last six.

Rangers and Celtic battle for Silva

With his game time decidedly limited, Silva is now “preparing to leave Wolves” in the January window, according to Portuguese outlet O Jogo/Sport Witness.

While there is an unnamed Spanish team in the frame, Scottish duo Celtic and Rangers are currently “at the front of the race”,

and time will tell which of the two Old Firm rivals makes the first concrete move.

Both should offer an appealing option for Silva given their historical stature. Only Northern Irish side

Linfield (56 times) have won more top-flight league titles in Europe than Rangers (55), while Celtic, 53-time champions themselves, won the European Cup in 1967.

The prospects of silverware north of the border also appear very strong.

Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops currently sit two points clear of Paul Clement’s Gers at the top of the table,

although the latter have a game in hand and have also reached the Europa League round of 16 after topping their group.

Part of the reason Silva will have found it difficult to win back his place at Molineux is the strong form of his competitors.

Hwang Hee-chan ranks seventh in the Premier League goal charts right now with eight,

while Matheus Cunha sits inside the top 20 himself with five to go along with three assists.

On that basis, it makes sense for him to seek a departure, but it’s unclear right now whether his next move will be another loan or a permanent transfer.