Philippe Clement made Fabio Silva his first signing as Rangers boss on Thursday as the Wolverhampton Wanderers forward joined on a season-long loan deal.
After Wolves boss Gary O’Neil hinted that some of his players may leave Molineux between now and the end of January, speculation heightened regarding Fabio Silva’s immediate future amid links to Rangers.
Proceedings gathered pace quite quickly and not too long after Silva effectively confirmed on social media that he would soon be joining a new club, Rangers announced his signing.
Celtic were left in the dust as Gers won the chase for the 20-year-old attacker. The Hoops registered their interest in Silva – as written by a couple of Portuguese outlets – but the the youngster had eyes only on Rangers.
He told RangersTV: “It was amazing. Everyone knows I had other options from other clubs, but when I saw the option to come to Rangers on loan I was very happy. It was my first option straight away.”
Silva is fully committed to Rangers for the next five months and it has been reported the Ibrox giants, as is the case with loan transfers, will pay a portion of his wages.
The exact amount has not be disclosed. But using data from Sportrac and SalarySport, we can tell you that Silva arrives in Govan as a very wealthy young man and earns more than double the amount of Rangers’ highest earner.
Rangers loanee Fabio Silva’s whopping wages
Let’s dig further into this one. Using figures from SalarySport, we can present Rangers’ top five earning stars via their weekly wage before tax.
Rangers highest-earning players 2023
- Connor Goldson – £37,000 p/w
- James Tavernier – £30,000 p/w
- Ben Davies – £27,000 p/w
- Cyriel Dessers – £27,000 p/w
- Danilo – £26,000 p/w
For the average man on the street, these figures are astronomical. Not for Fabio Silva, however.
The man Wolves paid £35m for in 2020 from Benfica is contracted at Molineux until June 2026. Thus, he is more than halfway through a deal that will see him rake in almost £21m before tax if he commits to the end.
That’s according to Sportrac, who also report that Silva’s gross weekly wage is £80,000 p/w. It means the new Rangers star completely blows the likes of Connor Goldson and skipper James Tavernier out of the water when it comes to income.
To put into context, arguably Rangers’ best player this season Jack Butland reportedly earns £25,000 p/w at Ibrox. So not even three times that salary can eclipse what Silva takes alone.
Of course, none of this is really a surprise. Premier League clubs have taken player wages to an unprecedented level in recent years and incredibly, a 20-year-old boasting an £80,000 p/w salary is nothing out of the ordinary.
Let’s just hope that the portion of that Rangers are paying for his services until May is worth every penny to the club, as we fight for another three trophies after securing the Viaplay Cup.
