Gary O’Neil claims, “I’ve spoken to him,” and claims the Wolves star making £80,000 per week now wants considerably more.

Gary O’Neil claims, “I’ve spoken to him,” and claims the Wolves star making £80,000 per week now wants considerably more.

Gary O’Neil has revealed he’s spoken with Fabio Silva about the striker’s form at the moment.

Silva was overlooked against Luton Town last weekend, with O’Neil choosing Matheus Cunha to play through the middle.

Fans thought that the youngster would then be starting against Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

But Silva was named on the bench again.

And when Wolves went 3-2 down, O’Neil turned to young Nathan Fraser to replace Sasa Kalajdzic.

That felt like a subtle message to Silva.

And now, some quotes have emerged from the head coach – and it does appear he wants Silva to work harder…

Gary O’Neil lays down the gauntlet to Wolves striker Fabio Silva
O’Neil said at the start of the season that Silva is going to play a big part for Wolves this term.

But so far, he hasn’t quite been able to establish himself as the main striker.

And O’Neil has now suggested that Silva needs to be doing more at the moment.

 

He said (Express & Star): “He needs to work extremely hard, as a lot of them do.

“As I speak about things around the club that need to improve, Fabio knows. I’ve spoken to him very clearly around where we want to get him to, what I want to help him with.

 

“We’ll get to work with him and try to make sure he’s in a place to affect Premier League games.

 

“He managed to get a few chances early on but Nathan has trained extremely well and is working extremely hard, so it was important we saw him as well.”

 

Silva must respond

It is interesting to hear this from O’Neil, and it seems pretty clear that Silva has to be doing more at the moment.

 

The £80,000-a-week man had some chances early doors, but didn’t take them.

 

He’s spoken previously about not being able to make an impact with mere cameo appearances.

But he’s had opportunities so far, and it’s on him to make a case to be playing.

 

O’Neil putting Fraser on before him against Ipswich will hopefully serve as a catalyst for the 21-year-old.