Philippe Clement inherited a Rangers squad that was short on options, short on quality and in desperate need of a fresh look.
The manager signed three players in January, all young and with bags of potential, with the signing of £35m striker Fabio Silva the one that caught the eye.
It wasn’t always plain sailing for the Portugal Under-21 international and he has been talking about his time at Rangers to Sport Bible.
Fabio Silva frustrated by Rangers reaction as striker tells all
Silva scored six goals in 25 games, hardly prolific, but he did spend most of his time on the left wing or coming off the bench.
Had he been signed in the summer, rather than halfway through the season, his figures would probably look more respectable.
Having not settled at Wolves, Silva has spent much of his last two seasons out on loan and he is clearly regretting his move to the West Midlands:
“I’ll be honest. I didn’t want to join Wolves.
“It wasn’t the right time to leave Porto. I wanted to stay for one or two more years. I felt like that was the best thing for my career.”
Silva was only 18 when he commanded the mammoth price tag but didn’t have much say in his future.
It was a similar story at the start of this season too.
After barely featuring, the chance to join Rangers presented itself and it was hoped that he would show what he was capable of in a league that should be a walk in the park for a player of his ability.
Things didn’t go to plan though and he was soon targeted for abuse off fans that didn’t take kindly to ill-judged social media posts and being ‘shooshed’ at Ibrox.
When asked if he would do anything different in the future, he replied:
“I’ve felt the impact of that in the last month-and-a-half.
“When I post something, or the club posts something about me on social media, the people really criticise me.
“In the beginning, when I was 18 years old, I’d go home and look at the comments to see what everyone was saying about me and my game. I’d look at the news as well.
“I’ve experienced a lot since then. I don’t have time to waste on things like that. The most important thing is the opinion of my family, my agent and friends.”
There is a doctored version of the interview doing the rounds on social media where Silva criticises the Rangers fans, that people have believed gives an insight into how the 21-year old is perceived.
Fabio Silva has to learn from his mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes when they are young.
It wasn’t Fabio Silva’s fault that Rangers lost the league.
There were games against Benfica and Celtic when he was Rangers best or most dangerous player and that was playing out of position.
However, he didn’t help himself either.
Even if it doesn’t bother him, Silva must understand that football is an emotional game and fans will react differently to players.
Scoring a goal in a draw or a defeat isn’t justification for a self-congratulatory post.
If Silva sharpens up his decision making and finishing, even by 10%, he is capable of playing at an elite level.
If he doesn’t, and still thinks that scoring goals is more important than the team’s result, then he will continue to get the stick that he got in his last couple of months at Rangers.
