Fábio Silva (footballer, born 2002)

Fábio Daniel Soares Silva (born 19 July 2002) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

This name uses Portuguese naming customs: the first or maternal family name is Soares and the second or paternal family name is Silva.
Fábio Silva
Personal information
Full name Fábio Daniel Soares Silva[1]
Date of birth (2002-07-19) 19 July 2002
Place of birth Gondomar, Portugal
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Number 17
Youth career
2010–2015 Porto
2015–2017 Benfica
2017–2019 Porto
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2020 Porto B 3 (0)
2020 Porto 12 (1)
2020– Wolverhampton Wanderers 17 (2)
National team‡
2017 Portugal U15 5 (3)
2017–2018 Portugal U16 8 (6)
2017–2019 Portugal U17 19 (5)
2019– Portugal U19 5 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 February 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 November 2019

Silva made his professional debut for Porto in August 2019, and set several club records relating to his young age.

Club career

Early career

Born in Gondomar, Porto District, Silva began his career at FC Porto before transferring to rivals S.L. Benfica in 2015, then returning two years later. With 20 goals in 26 games for the under-19 team by February 2019, he was called up by manager Sérgio Conceição to train with the first team.[2]

Porto

He made his Primeira Liga debut for Porto on 10 August 2019 in a 2–1 loss at Gil Vicente, playing the final 11 minutes in place of Otavinho;[3] at 17 years and 22 days, he surpassed Bruno Gama as the youngest league player in the club's history.[4] On 19 September against BSC Young Boys in the UEFA Europa League group stage, he became the club's youngest player in European competitions, beating Rúben Neves.[5] Six days later, he became the club's youngest starter in any competition when he lined up against C.D. Santa Clara in the Taça da Liga group stage, beating a record held by Serafim Pereira since 1960.[6]

On 19 October, Silva scored his first goal to conclude a 5–0 win at neighbouring S.C. Coimbrões in the third round of the Taça de Portugal; with this goal he surpassed Neves as the youngest goalscorer in the club's history, by a month.[7] Eight days later, he beat the same player's record as Porto's youngest league goalscorer in a 3–0 home win over F.C. Famalicão.[8] On 10 November, in a 1–0 win at Boavista F.C. in the Derby da Invicta, he became the youngest starter in the club's history, a record held since Serafim's days.[9]

On 9 February 2020, Silva dropped into Porto's reserve team in LigaPro, debuting as a starter in a 1–1 home draw with S.C. Farense, as one of three appearances at this level.[10] He made two further appearances for Porto's first team following the resumption of the league after the coronavirus-enforced shutdown as the club won the league title.[11]

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 5 September 2020, Silva moved to English Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers in a five-year deal for a club record fee[12] of a reported £35 million.[13] He made his full club debut on 17 September 2020 in an EFL Cup defeat to Stoke City;[14] four days later he made his Premier League debut as a second-half substitute in a 3–1 home loss to Manchester City.[15]

Silva scored his first two goals in a Wolves shirt for the under-21 team in a 2–1 away win over Doncaster Rovers in the EFL Trophy on 10 November 2020.[16]

Silva made his first appearance in Wolves' starting XI for a league game in a 1–0 home defeat against Aston Villa on 12 December 2020.[17]

On 21 December 2020, Silva scored his first league goal for Wolves through a penalty in a 2–1 away loss against Burnley.[18] In doing so, Silva became Wolves' youngest ever Premier League goalscorer.[19]

On 16 January 2021, Silva scored his first goal from open play and his first goal at Molineux for Wolves in a 3–2 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion in the Black Country derby.[20]

International career

Silva had his first international experience with Portugal's under-15 team in 2017. He was part of the under-17 team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 UEFA European Championship in the Republic of Ireland, scoring in a 4–2 group win over Iceland.[21]

On 11 October 2019, Silva scored a hat-trick for the under-19s in a 4–1 friendly win over Italy in Bragança.[22]

Personal life

Silva's father Jorge was a defensive midfielder who won the league in 2001 for Boavista F.C. and was capped twice by Portugal, and his older brother also named Jorge played that position for S.S. Lazio.[2]

Career statistics
As of match played 7 February 2021[23]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Porto 2019–20 Primeira Liga 1213230—30213
Porto B 2019–20 LigaPro 30————30
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2020–21 Premier League 1722010——202
Wolverhampton Wanderers U-21s 2020–21 — ———12—12
Career total 32352401230457

    Honours

    Porto

    References
    1. "2020/21 Premier League squads confirmed". Premier League. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
    2. "Fábio Silva, o goleador que o FC Porto "resgatou" ao Benfica" [Fábio Silva, the goalscorer who FC Porto "rescued" from Benfica] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
    3. ""Juntei o Fábio Silva ao Marega e ao Zé Luís para tentar marcar a partir de cruzamentos"" ["I joined Fábio Silva with Marega and Zé Luís to try to score from crosses"]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 10 August 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
    4. "FC Porto: tanta "prata da casa" só com Mourinho e mais um recorde de Fábio Silva" [Only with Mourinho was there this much "homegrown talent" and another record for Fábio Silva]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 26 September 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
    5. "Fábio Silva torna-se no mais jovem de sempre do FC Porto a jogar na UEFA" [Fábio Silva becomes Porto's youngest player of all time in UEFA competitions] (in Portuguese). SAPO. 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
    6. "Fábio Silva bate mais um recorde: é o titular mais jovem de sempre do FC Porto" [Fábio Silva beats another record: he is the all-time youngest starter for Porto] (in Portuguese). SAPO. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
    7. "Fábio Silva ultrapassa Rúben Neves como o mais jovem marcador" [Fábio Silva surpasses Rúben Neves as the youngest goalscorer]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 19 October 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
    8. "Fábio Silva: mais recordes no FC Porto e uma oferta especial" [Fábio Silva: more records for FC Porto and a special offer]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 28 October 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
    9. "Mais um recorde para Fábio Silva no FC Porto: confira a lista completa" [One more record for Fábio Silva at FC Porto: check out the full list]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 11 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
    10. "FC Porto B contou com Fábio Silva e empatou com o Farense" [FC Porto B had Fábio Silva on their side and drew with Farense]. O Jogo (in Portuguese). 9 February 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
    11. "Juventus held by Sassuolo in thriller, Porto win Primeira Liga title". The Guardian. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
    12. "Record-breaking teenage striker Silva joins Wolves". Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. 5 September 2020.
    13. "Wolves signing teenager Fabio Silva for £35m club record fee". Express & Star. 5 September 2020.
    14. "Wolverhampton Wanderers 0–1 Stoke City". BBC Sport. 17 September 2020.
    15. Stone, Simon (21 September 2020). "Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–3 Manchester City: Pep Guardiola's side start with away win". BBC Sport.
    16. "Papa John's Trophy: Fabio Silva scores first Wolves goals; Southend lose again". BBC Sport. 10 November 2020.
    17. Collins, Ben (12 December 2020). "Wolves 0–1 Aston Villa: Anwar El Ghazi penalty wins West Midlands derby". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
    18. "Burnley 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers: Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood on target". BBC Sport. 21 December 2020.
    19. "B18y 155d - Fábio Silva is the youngest player to score a Premier League goal for Wolves, while he's the second-youngest player to score a penalty in the competition, after Liverpool's Michael Owen in August 1997 (17y 238d v Wimbledon). Pup". Twitter. 21 December 2020.
    20. Stone, Simon (16 January 2021). "Wolves 2–3 West Brom: Matheus Pereira's double secures Baggies win in Black Country derby". BBC Sport.
    21. "COMENTÁRIO: Portugal supera Islândia e garante quartos de final" [COMMENTARY: Portugal beat Iceland and guarantee quarter-finals]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 10 May 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
    22. "Portugal vence a Itália com hat-trick de Fábio Silva" [Portugal defeat Italy with a hat-trick by Fábio Silva]. Público (in Portuguese). 11 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
    23. Fábio Silva at Soccerway
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