Fabio Silva has claimed that he "had no say in the matter" when he completed a transfer from Porto to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Ahead of football resuming for 2020-21 during the coronavirus pandemic, Wolves hit the headlines by signing 18-year-old Silva in a £35m deal.
At the time, Silva had accumulated just 531 minutes of senior football - scoring three times - but Wolves owners Fosun International placed faith in the then-Portuguese prodigy.
However, neither party has benefitted from the move. Silva has contributed just five goals and six assists from his 72 appearances in all competitions, and spent several loan periods away from Molineux.
On the back of a stint at Rangers, Gary O'Neil has already hinted that Silva will be one of the players who will not feature in his squad for 2024-25, and the 21-year-old has since confirmed he wants to join a new club.
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Silva reveals he didn't want Wolves transfer
In an interview with SPORTbible, Silva has revealed that he did not want to sign for Wolves in the first place, claiming that he "did not have a choice".
The Portugal Under-21 international said: "I trained with Porto in the morning, went to dinner with my family and my agent called me. He said, "Tomorrow we're going to travel to England."
"They pushed me in the direction of Wolves. I didn't have a choice. Maybe the other clubs would have been better for my development – a league that would allow more time and patience.
"I was told if I said no to Wolves, then I wouldn't play for the first team at Porto. I was only 18 when a team decided to offer £35 million. At the time, Porto weren't in a great position financially but I still didn't have a say in the matter.
"They called me saying, 'You have a flight tomorrow.' And that was it. The club knew the love I had for them. They said, 'You have a chance to give your club £35m. You can help out financially.' I couldn't say no."
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What now for Silva?
With Silva still possessing two years left on his contract, Wolves will be determined to recoup as much money as possible for their former club-record addition.
In reality, though, raising a third of the fee that they committed to shelling out four years may prove to be a tough ask after Silva scored just six times in 25 games for Rangers.
Previous loans at Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven proved more fruitful, with 16 goals and six assists coming from 51 appearances during 2022-23, but interested clubs will feel that they will be taking a risk after his period at Ibrox.
Although Wolves still have the option of allowing another loan, they want to generate funds for O'Neil to use on a replacement or on an important signing for another area of the pitch.
Darren Plant
