Young Wolves stars told to work for their Premier League chance

The £35million striker was thrust into the limelight last season after Raul Jimenez’s injury left him sidelined for the remainder of the season.

But since the Mexican has returned this campaign, Silva has been taken out of the team and given an opportunity to develop out of the public eye.

So far he has started, and impressed, in the Carabao Cup win over Nottingham Forest, but has been given limited Premier League minutes. For Lage, he wants Silva and the other promising youngsters at Wolves, to earn their chance in training and be ready to prove their worth when called upon.

“He’s (Silva) doing well,” Lage said.

“Fabio is in that point where he needs to understand and work. Like me, when I started my career, I needed to work for today and tomorrow.

“We have a lot of young players with good potential. I can talk about Ki-Jana (Hoever), Rayan (Ait-Nouri), Yerson (Mosquera), Fabio.

“They need to come to work every day, to create a lot of problems for their direct opponents in their position. They need to be solid in training.

“If they come just for one goal, to play or not play, the potential doesn’t come. They can work hard every day to build up a solid way to train and performance.

“Then when they have minutes it will be easier for them.

“The secret is to come and work to be better every day. Fabio is doing that. When someone forgets, I am there to remind them what to do.”

Despite being given only a handful of minutes, Silva and his team-mates seemed to have created a harmonious atmosphere in the squad – who have all spoken highly of Lage.

When asked if the striker is frustrated at his lack of game time, Lage added: “Fabio, Ki, Rayan, Yerson – they are in the same position.

“Work hard and when the team needs them I will choose the right guys. Fabio is doing that and also the other guys, they work very hard.

“This is the main point. This is competition.

“When they have minutes they can show to the fans what they are doing in the week.”

Nelson Semedo and Mosquera have both played a game each for the under-23s this season to help them regain fitness for the first team.

Last year, Silva also moved down to play against Doncaster in the EFL Trophy for the under-21s and he netted a brace.

Now, Lage is open to more of his players getting minutes for the academy if it helps them in their preparation for the first team.

“It depends on the moment,” Lage said.

“I can give you a good example, Semedo was there. He didn’t work because of the quarantine.

“Some players have bad experiences when they go down. Daniel Podence told me when he was with Sporting he went down to the under-23s and broke his finger.

“So I don’t want to push anyone to play there, but if they need it we can talk. If they show me they want to go, they can go.

“Semedo went. Luke (Cundle) and Chem (Campbell) work every time with us and they play there.

“Some players need to go there, like Yerson went, to have minutes and tempo. It’s not a question to Fabio, it’s a question for everyone.”