As Rangers finally discovered the identity of their opponents in the UEFA Europa League last-16, that impending – and very intriguing – clash between Philippe Clement’s side and Portuguese giants Benfica will take on extra significance for one member of the Ibrox roster.
Fabio Silva, after all, spent two years in Benfica’s youth system between 2015 and 2017, either side of spells at FC Porto. And if he is involved when Rangers travel to Lisbon for the first leg in early March, the Wolves loanee will find himself going up against not only his former employers but also an Iberian outfit for the first time since that £35 million move to Molineux in 2020.
Silva might just feel as if he has something of a point to prove, too.
Rangers drawn against Benfica in Europa League
It’s not long since he was viewed as the future of Portuguese football – his reputation so sparkling at youth level that Wolverhampton Wanderers were willing to make a club-record investment in a then-unproven teenage talent.
Now, aged 21 and despite promising loan spells at PSV and Anderlecht before arriving at Ibrox, there remains a feeling that Silva has barely even scratched the of the potential which had former Portugal star Nuno Gomes labelling him as the most likely to follow in the footsteps of Joao Felix – the Primeira Liga’s biggest ever export – a few years ago (Record).
Silva once had a 125 million euro release clause in his Porto contract. That is five million euro more than Atletico Madrid paid to take Felix away from Benfica.
“When (Cristiano) Ronaldo was 17, he played as a centre-forward for Sporting’s youth teams,” said Manuel Fernandes, a Sporting Lisbon legend. “I saw him doing things that I’m now seeing a boy from FC Porto; Fabio Silva.
“He will be a hell of a ‘craque’. In a short while, he will be an extraordinary striker.”
Ibrox ace once likened to Cristiano Ronaldo
That Joao Felix slipped through Porto’s net before making it big at Benfica became a popular stick with which to beat The Dragons a few years back. President Pinto da Costa, at the time, clearly felt that – by taking Fabio Silva in the other direction – Porto had got one back on their bitter rivals.
“It has been written a hundred times that Joao Felix moved from Porto to Benfica,” Da Costa told O Jogo back in 2019. “But perhaps this is the first time people will hear our vendetta, (because Fabio Silva was signed) from Benfica.”
Five years on, the whims of the draw means Silva finally has the opportunity to show Benfica what they are missing. And the chance to show that – even if his Wolves career may have been a bit of a dud – there is still time for the Rangers loanee to live up to that early promise.
