Fabio Silva has admitted he didn’t really feel valued by former Wolves manager Bruno Lage.
The youngster is back in the picture at Wolves now, after spending last season on loan at Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven.
Silva going out on loan was a decision taken by officials after they had seen him struggle for minutes at Molineux.
Silva played second fiddle to Raul Jimenez in his second season, with the Mexican having come back from the head injury he sustained in the previous season.
You would have thought that Silva would have had a good level of involvement because of what happened to Jimenez.
But he just didn’t get the opportunities he wanted, and now Silva has admitted he didn’t really feel the love from Lage…
Silva has done a big interview with the Express & Star and spoken about a variety of topics.
He’s admitted he came quite close to leaving the club.
But Matt Hobbs played an important role in keeping him at Molineux.
Silva spoke a bit about his second season at Molineux, and admitted he even cried at points during the season because of his struggles.
Of the manager at the time, Silva says: “I didn’t feel 100 percent valued because I didn’t play so much.
“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.”
One does feel a little sorry for Silva.
That second season was definitely tough for him, and his points are understandable.
It is not easy to make an impact when you’re coming on for five and 10-minute cameos.
As a striker, that’s not a lot of time at all to find the back of the net. And before you know it, you’ve gone 20 appearances without scoring and it looks bad.
£35 million signing Silva undoubtedly should have had more chances under Lage.
But Wolves, at one point, were pushing for European football.
Seemingly, the Portuguese felt that was more achievable if he played his more experienced players.