Fábio Silva has revealed he had no say over his move to Wolverhampton Wanderers from FC Porto in 2020.
Wolves invested €40m in securing the 20-year-old’s services, after he’d played just over 500 minutes from 21 games for the Dragons’ first team.
The forward told Voetbal International, relayed by Voetbal Primeur, that he wanted to continue his development at Porto but that didn’t happen because the Premier League side decided to bet on him.
“If amounts of €40m are paid, clubs sometimes cannot refuse. That was the case with me. But I had just turned 18. It hurts a bit that I haven’t been able to show more at Porto,” he said.
“People don’t always understand football well. It’s not that I think at 18 years old: I’m going to Wolves, playing in the Premier League. I had no control over that. It was the decision of the club and given the transfer fee I understand. Maybe I would have liked to stay one more year, two more years, but I’m trying. I can’t think about it anymore.”
The Portugal U21 international scored four goals and managed six assists from 62 games in all competitions for Wolves. This includes 17 league starts as he was largely reduced to a substitute role at the Molineux.
Silva has now revealed he has learnt to only focus on the pitch and not on the price tag.
“In my first two seasons with Wolves, I played 54 games in the Premier League. People look at how many goals [4] I have scored, but they don’t look at the number of minutes I played. I was mainly a substitute, which makes sense when you’re so young. But because of that transfer fee, all eyes were on me. Fortunately, I quickly learned to let it slide,” Silva explained.
“The moment I step onto the field, I never think about the €40m. On the field, I always forget everything. I can have a hundred problems, but on the field, I am a butterfly, completely free. It is for me the best place to be.”
Silva’s failure to shine at Wolves have seen them send him out on loan to Anderlecht [last summer] and PSV Eindhoven in January. His deal with the latter lasts until the end of this season.
On Wednesday, the Wolves owned player publicly expressed his desire to continue at the Eredivisie side next season.
