'Move on from him': Rangers urged not to pursue £7m deal for player not 'up to standard'
02/05/2024 21:00
While Mohamed Diomande’s performances are making the obligation-to-buy clause in his Rangers contract look like excellent value for money – reportedly in the region of just £4 million – the fee required to turn another loan deal into a permanent transfer is starting to look more expensive by the week.
In his 20 appearances for Philippe Clement’s side, Fabio Silva has found the net only four times. He’s currently on a run of seven games without one.
And while any criticism must be countered by the fact that the on-loan attacker has spent much of his time at Ibrox out on the left wing rather than in his favoured centre-forward position, suggestions that Wolverhampton Wanderers will demand a staggering £15 million from any club looking to sign Silva on a full-time basis reportedly have Rangers planning to move on already, even with a few weeks of the season remaining and two trophies still to fight for.
Jamie Murphy, a Rangers winger himself back in the day, feels that – even if Silva was available for half of that £15 million price-tag – the former Porto teenager has simply not done anywhere near enough to justify such an outlay; his goals return poor, his performances underwhelming and his antics – to quote Rangers legend Graeme Souness – ’embarrassing’.
Rangers unlikely to trigger Fabio Silva deal
“No, I think he will probably go back to Wolves,” Murphy, who spent two years at Rangers following spells at Brighton and Hove Albion and Sheffield United, tells Go Radio. “He started off well and has a little bit about him but his performances haven’t really been up to standard in previous weeks.
“I know he has been playing out on the left and it is not his position but I think Rangers will move on from him in the summer. If Rangers have got five, six, seven million to spend on a player in the summer, I don’t think they will spend it on Silva.”
If Rangers are to devote a hefty portion of their summer budget on keeping a forward who has spent the last few months on loan in Glasgow, it’s fair to say Abdallah Sima has done a lot more to justify the club’s long-term faith.
Sima, albeit having joined the club from Brighton in the summer rather than the winter, has 16 goals to show from his time in Scotland, four times Silva’s tally.
Silva outperformed by Sima at Ibrox
How much Brighton want for a forward who set them back £7 million, or whether they would even consider permanent offers in the first place, remains to be seen. Sima, however, is clearly not averse to extending his stay at a club where he has produced his best football since scoring goals for fun in the Czech Republic with Sparta Prague.
"This was the perfect team for me, you know, as a young player to get games and experience. Team-mates really help, (there are) some experienced players. So I'm really happy to be here," Sima said in April, broadcast on Rangers' official YouTube channel.
"I didn't expect it, to have a season like this, to be honest. But I'm a winner and I want to win everything here. That's why I joined the club. So I hope to give everything for this club and for the fans, because they deserve that."
Should Sima return to England’s South Coast, Rangers could look to bring in Raphael Borges Rodrigues from Australian outfit Macarthur FC.
