Exclusive interview part two: Fabio Silva on difficult 2021/22 Wolves season and family life

That changed quickly after Jimenez’s horrific head injury, and Silva was suddenly thrown in at the deep end.

“Sometimes I say I had to grow up too quickly,” Silva said in his extended exclusive interview with the Express & Star.

“At 18-years-old most players play in the second team of their club, or second division, and I arrived here with Raul in my position.

“After his injury I had to go quickly to the pitch to show myself. I didn’t have time to learn, feel the league and take my time to improve and know the way we play.

“Everything went quickly and sometimes people forget, but this is normal in football.”

As a teenager adapting to life in the Premier League, Silva was criticised by pundits and questioned by some supporters.

In the three years since that experience, Silva believes he has grown as a player and a person and no longer allows that criticism to affect him.

“At that time, when I listened to some comments and people speaking, I would feel sad or bad, but now I don’t care what people say or think about me,” he added.

“I know when I play bad and when I play good, so I take my own perspective from the game. I can see it for myself when I see the videos of the game, where I have to do better.

“When people speak now I don’t have to listen or read it. In the good moments you read it and think ‘wow, I’m good’, but after you have a bad game the same guys criticise you.

“I have to enjoy and do my best, but not stay happy because of one game. I continue to work and believe in myself.”

But how did Silva stop the criticism from affecting him?

As he begins to open up on his time at Wolves, the conversation turns to the 2021/22 season.

Bruno Lage is taking his first season in charge and sidelines Silva. The striker has to settle for late substitute appearances and starts in cup competitions and as he reflects on that season, reveals the mental anguish he faced on a weekly basis.

“I can tell you, in my second season here at Wolves, it was the most difficult season in my career,” Silva said.

“Sometimes I started to have doubts about myself and my football because of what people say, or things inside the club and the dressing room.

“I tell the truth, sometimes there were difficult days at home and I cried alone. I don’t have a problem saying that because I’m a normal person and I have my bad moments too.

“But sometimes I don’t listen to people because they don’t know how it is inside the club. They don’t know how I push myself to be my best version, I work for 17-18 hours, arrive home and work with my personal trainer and have my physios.

“I dedicate so much to football so when people speak, I was a little sad. It was unfair because they didn’t know the sacrifice I make to be at my best level.

“That season could now be the key for my career because it gave me a lot of good things. I had moments alone crying thinking about what I can improve and I grew up. I am stronger for the next year when I went on loan to feel happy again and feel confidence again.

“Now I’m 100 per cent good and if I have something not so good, I have learned how to take care of it.”

In that season, Silva did not make a Premier League start until January 22, 2022, in a win at Brentford.

With that £35million price tag hanging over him, Silva was feeling the pressure to deliver.

He added: “It’s difficult sometimes because of the price Wolves bought me. I always say I didn’t control the price, but I liked this pressure and this is why I’m here and why at my age Wolves made this investment.

“But it was difficult because people expect you to score 30 goals in the Premier League and they don’t know you have to grow up, fail and learn the league. With respect, the Portuguese league is not the same as the Premier League, where you play with the best players in the world.

“In the Portuguese league, sometimes when you have the ball, you have 30 seconds to think. Here in the Premier League you have five seconds to think, so you have to be quicker and smarter.

“This is why I’m here, to improve myself. The years I’ve spent here will give me a lot of things in my future to be a top, top player.”

And did he feel valued under former boss Lage?

“I didn’t feel 100 per cent valued because I didn’t play so much,” Silva said.

“People will say ‘oh he played 35 games’, but if you see my total minutes, maybe I played five games all season. It’s difficult if you always come on for five minutes.

“For me, it was frustrating at the beginning because I had a good season with Nuno, at 18-years-old with four goals and three assists, and with Bruno I wanted to continue with a Portuguese coach to protect me.

“But after, sometimes I’m at fault and sometimes not. Football is like that. It was the worst season of my career, but I think it was the key to change myself too because I learned a lot of things and grew up.

“Now, mentally, I’m very good.”

For all of Silva’s trials and tribulations, he cuts the figure of a calm, composed and ambitious footballer.

Despite considering – and coming close to – leaving Wolves this summer, the striker seems happy and focused on performing.

The state of modern football means multi-millionaire professionals rarely allow supporters or journalists to take a peek behind the curtain at what makes them tick.

But Silva is adamant - “I’m a normal guy!” - who enjoys his down time relaxing with his dog, watching Netflix, playing video games and speaking to friends.

So who is the real Fabio Silva?

“He’s a very kind guy,” the man himself added.

“All the people that have experience with me say I’m a funny guy and I always try to joke.

“I have a good heart and I think it’s one of the best things about me. I always try to help everyone and sometimes I give more to other people than for myself.

“My mum says this! Sometimes I need to give more to myself than other people, but this is what I have inside of me.

“I love to play football, it’s my life since I was a kid. I play all the time.

“I love to stay with my friends, my family and enjoy life.”

Hailing from Gondomar, on the outskirts of Portugal’s coastal city of Porto, Silva left the city’s top flight club for Wolverhampton as a teenager during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Attempting to fit in and settle would have been tough without the added complication of a global pandemic, but it was the reaction of locals that helped that transition.

Silva said: “At the beginning I didn’t expect the people to be so kind here, I’ll tell you the truth.

“But since I’ve arrived here, the fans when they see me in the street, they give me so much love.

“I feel at home here and I feel protected. It’s good for a young player.

“Most players at 21-years-old are with his family at home, with his friends and in his country.

“I came to England, the best league in the world, and everything is new. Now, I’ve grown up quicker than team-mates my age.

“Sometimes it’s important to be alone to know yourself and have time alone, but after that I like to spend time with my family and friends.”

Referencing his family and friends has been a running theme throughout this interview, too.

In his opening words during the sit-down chat, Silva refers to his family’s health and well-being as a marker for his own happiness and it is something he misses dearly as he sits 1,378 miles away from his loved ones.

“I like to have cuddles and kisses with my family, I’m this kind of person, I like the contact,” he added.

“It’s difficult when you don’t have a hug from your mum, dad, sister or brother.

“Sometimes after training I like to take walks with my friends, of course I have my team-mates but they all have their girlfriends or are married with children, so it’s different as I don’t have children yet.

“This is the difficult part for me as I like to stay with my friends, have a walk, get a coffee, speak a little bit and feel the weather.”

In modern football, most Portuguese players of a certain age idolise Cristiano Ronaldo.

That is also true for Silva, who has previously spoken of his admiration for the striker.

But his mentors in football are much closer to home, in yet another example of the striker’s devotion to his family.

His father Jorge, a former Portugal international, and his brother – also named Jorge – are his biggest fans but will also be the first to pick the phone up after a game and outline where Silva can improve.

“I try to learn from Cristiano of course, but at home I have my father too,” Silva said.

“He played football and I try to listen to him. Sometimes after a game, when the game hasn’t been so good, he’s the first one to say what I can improve, but he never criticises me.

“He wants me to be one of the best on the pitch. When he gives me some advice, it’s for me to know for the next game what I can improve.

“I try to listen to my father a lot and my brother too, he played football and always speaks to me after games.

“After, I have my personal trainer and we have a good connection. I have a friend Artur, we speak a lot, I have my agent Carlos. I have a lot of people, like a family, to keep in contact with and improve.”

After two loan spells at Anderlecht and PSV last season – where he scored 16 goals in all competitions – Silva is now aiming to take that improvement into a campaign with Wolves.

His focus is firmly on the Premier League after an unsettled summer, but time will tell if he can make a success of the platform awarded to him.