Nuno signing who earns more than Neto has seen his value plummet at Wolves

Since their promotion back to the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo at the end of the 2017/18 campaign, Wolverhampton Wanderers have not been shy about splashing the cash on new signings.

They snapped up Brazilian attacker Matheus Cunha for a fee within the region of £44m after an initial loan spell with the club during the second half of last season.

The 24-year-old maestro has racked up nine goals and six assists in 24 Premier League matches for the Old Gold so far this term, which suggests that he is on his way to justifying his transfer fee.

However, not all of the club’s big-money additions have been roaring successes, as the likes of Goncalo Guedes, Patrick Cutrone, and Fabio Silva all struggled after arriving for significant fees.

Silva, in particular, has flopped hard since his move from Porto as the centre-forward, who earns more than current first-team star Pedro Neto, has seen his value plummet over the last few years.

The fee Wolves paid for Fabio Silva

Former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo swooped to sign the 18-year-old – supposed – wonderkid from Portuguese giants Porto in the summer of 2020.

The club lavished a club-record fee of £35m on the teenage marksman, which was £5m more than their previous record buy of £30m on Raul Jimenez in 2019.

Wolves chairman Jeff Shi claimed that the club’s recruitment team felt that Silva had been the best number nine in his age group across Europe from U16s up to that point, and went on to state that the forward had the potential to be a “generational” talent.

He had made 21 appearances for Porto’s first-team by that point, in which time the young ace had contributed with three goals and two assists.

The talented whiz had also produced five goals and four assists in nine UEFA Youth League appearances for the Portuguese side’s youth team during the 2018/19 campaign.

It was then a big ask to expect the 18-year-old to hit the ground running in the Premier League for Wolves after moving to England for a gigantic fee at such a young age, with little first-team experience under his belt.

Silva struggled throughout the 2020/21 campaign as he ended the season with four goals and three assists in 32 top-flight appearances for Santo.

The Portugal U21 international followed that up with a dismal return of zero goals and zero assists in 22 Premier League matches during the following term.

This meant that the former Porto starlet racked up four goals and three assists in 54 league games for the Old Gold across his first two seasons in England, which is an average of one goal contribution every 7.7 matches on average.

This prompted Wolves to send him out on loan to Anderlecht, and then PSV, throughout the 2022/23 campaign as they did not deem him worthy of a place in their first-team squad.

Silva produced 11 goals and four assists in 32 matches for the Belgian outfit in a productive first-half of the season, before a return of five goals and two assists in 19 outings for PSV in the final five months of the campaign.

Fabio Silva’s current market value

At the time of writing (10/03/2024), Football Transfers currently has his Expected Transfer Value (xTV) at just €12.8m, which works out at around £10.9m.

This means that his market value has plummeted a staggering £24.1m from the £35m that Wolves paid to sign him from Porto back in the summer of 2020, which shows that the club had a howler with that move.

His xTV has dropped significantly over the last few years due to his underperformance on the pitch after a club-record move to the Old Gold.

Gary O’Neil offered him a chance to revive his career in England during the first half of this season but Silva missed two ‘big chances’ and failed to provide a single goal or assist in eight Premier League appearances.

He did not grasp his opportunity to impress the English tactician and was then sent out on loan to Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers during the recent January transfer window.

As you can see in the table above, the 21-year-old forward has hardly set the world alight since his move up to Scotland, with two goals and four ‘big chances’ missed in nine Premiership appearances to date.

These statistics do not suggest that his form or market value is going to soar in the right direction any time soon, which emphasises how much of a howler Nuno had with the signing in 2020.

How much Fabio Silva earns

According to Salary Sport, Silva currently earns £42k-per-week – up from £37k-per-week during his first two years with the English side. Football Insider reported that Wolves are paying the ‘majority’ of his wages during his loan spell with Rangers, although it is unclear as to exactly how much the Scottish side are covering.

As per Salary Sport, the Portuguese flop is currently earning more than Old Gold star Pedro Neto, who is said to be on a wage of £39k-per-week.

If this is accurate, the lightning-quick winger has reason to feel aggrieved as he has been influential on the pitch for the club, whilst Silva has been moved out on loan due to his lack of impact.

As you can see in the table above, the 24-year-old forward has been in impressive form in the Premier League this season with 11 direct goal contributions in 19 appearances.

Whereas, Silva has racked up seven direct goal contributions in 62 top-flight matches for Wolves since his club-record move from Porto in 2020.

This highlights both how fantastic Neto has been this term and how much of a flop his compatriot has been since Nuno swooped to bring him to the club.

Overall, the former Old Gold boss had a howler with that move and the Midlands side may now be hoping to recoup as much as they can for him in the summer if they decide to cash in on a permanent basis.