Fan column: A successful end to an unsuccessful Wolves spell for Fabio Silva

A daunting challenge is in the offing and now that the transfer window is closed, there can be no further arrivals until January. We sink or swim with what we’ve got and hope that the newcomers can deliver and frankly, that’s asking an awful lot.  

But it’s a belated departure from Molineux that finally brings to an end one of the most expensive and unsuccessful signings in the club’s history that remains fascinating. 

It’s almost five years to the day amidst much fanfare that Wolves splashed out a club record fee of £35 million for an 18-year-old Portuguese dubbed ‘the best young striker in Europe.’ Fair to say that Fabio Silva failed spectacularly to live up to expectations. 

Hopelessly miscast in a role beyond his capabilities that made this strange deal even more unfathomable than it was on the day he signed his contract. From the outset he looked exactly what indeed he was; a callow, inexperienced youth, short on physicality and technique and wholly lacking the predatory instinct, the cunning and tunnel-vision of a born striker. 

We had naturally expected something special; when nothing materialised, we massaged our disappointment insisting that given time, Fabio would inevitably have us reaching for the superlatives. 

We were kidding ourselves; seeing what we wanted to see, eulogising when he got a few basics right, but the goals unlike the levels of patience remained in short substance, just five strikes, one a penalty at Burnley another a fluke at The Hawthorns in 73 spasmodic appearances. 

He was shifted out on loan with mixed success at Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven, Rangers and Las Palmas. Wolves extended his contract prior to the first loan, keen to protect their investment, desperate to recoup a proportion of their extortionate outlay. 

And to be fair, interest in him from Europe never wavered and his move to Dortmund offers him a fabulous opportunity. After all, he is still only 23 years of age. 

For Wolves, the relief must be massive; the Bundesliga club have paid a lot of money to seal this deal. 

Looking back, I remain puzzled as to who brokered and sanctioned the transfer that brought Silva to Molineux in the first place; a truly bewildering episode now mercifully concluded.