Fabio Silva must not run away from the challenge of Premier League football says manager Bruno Lage.

Wolves manager Bruno Lage has said that Portuguese striker Fabio Silva must not shy away from the challenge of Premier League football when asked about his progress at Wolves.

WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND - APRIL 05: Fabio Silva of Wolverhampton Wanderers scores their team's second goal during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United at Molineux on April 05, 2021 in Wolverhampton, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Jack Thomas - WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)

By Ed Hague-Saunders2 October 2021 08:47 BST

19 year old Fabio Silva joined Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2020, for a club record fee of around £35 million, which came with a huge amount of pressure on his young shoulders. Despite showing flashes of brilliance so far, he has largely struggled to adapt to the Premier League at such a young age. Silva has scored just four league goals in his 36 appearances, with all of them coming last year when he filled in for the injured Raúl Jimenez.

When speaking about his time at SL Benfica and the systems that he used whilst in charge, Lage was asked about the potential of Silva and if he could be as good as former Benfica player, Joao Felix.

“Fabio [Silva] can be as good as [Joao] Felix but they are different players. Fabio is very good with his runs and his movement in between the defenders, the way he attacks the space in the box at both posts. Joao is different, he likes to get on the ball and get into the game."

"The right answer is maybe they can play together in the same team at some point in their career.”

With the return of the Mexican striker to the first team and the loan signing of Hwang Hee Chan, game time in the Premier League for the 19 year old has become hard to come by. The idea of a loan move was put forward to Lage, but he quickly dismissed any chance of it happening.

“Fabio silva is in my plans. I see him as a striker who is going to compete for us. What is important at his age is to not run away from the challenge, because the challenge is here at Wolves."

"Sometimes when players look for solutions, players look for comfort but football is not about comfort it is about fighting for what you want. In the end it is good when you have the things you have worked for as it is more rewarding."

"He is working hard everyday, but young kids want things to happen very quickly without work what what they want. Everyone wants to put young players in the first team but they have to fight and show me good things first before they play.”

Bruno Lage is renowned for his ability to bring through and develop young players into top talent, which is largely down to his past of managing youth teams. It was actually Lage that introduced Felix into the Benfica first team set up and was in charge when he had his breakthrough season.

Wolves will be hoping that Fabio Silva is able to hit the heights that his talent shows he can, and being the understudy to Jimenez whilst being nurtured by manager Bruno Lage is likely to be a recipe for success.