Lage must unleash "phenomenal" £19.8m-rated Wolves ace who was a "baffling" signing - opinion

Wolves‘ goalscoring troubles took a temporary break last week after their 4-0 home win against Watford, before returning away against Everton – with them only winning 1-0 despite having 14 shots, with five coming from inside the box, against a team that has conceded 11 in their last five Premier League games before kick-off.

Fan favourite Raul Jimenez has struggled this season, scoring just six goals in the league – which is a painful statistic for the Molineux faithful to read considering he is their top scorer this season, with forwards Hwang Hee-Chan and Daniel Podence managing just one more in total between them.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Fabio Silva is looking an “increasingly baffling” acquisition in the words of author Tariq Panja and has failed to score at all this season in 19 appearances. However, to add a little context, he has only managed to play 544 minutes, with 14 of those games small cameos off the bench.

After making his first start in January since September, teammate and compatriot Ruben Neves was full of praise for the £19.8m-rated teenager’s performance against Sheffield United in the FA Cup Third Round, saying: “He did really well. He’s improving as a player a lot in this moment, and he did it again. I’m happy for him, but now it’s up to him to keep improving.

“It’s all about improving to help the team and I’m sure he will.”

After arriving from Porto at the start of last season for £35.6m following praise from Sporting CP legend Manuel Fernandes who suggested he would become a “phenomenal”  striker in a short time, there was plenty of expectation on him straight away, and it seems the prospect is still taking time to adjust to life in the West Midlands.

Wolves boss Bruno Lage might use the next match