Philippe Clement ‘Big Pull’ for Fabio Silva as Rangers close in on January transfer
Fabio Silva is close to joining Rangers on loan for the rest of the season from Wolves, with the main pull of the deal revealed to be Philippe Clement.
The 21-year-old Portuguese striker is set to join the club from January 1 to boost the Ibrox club’s goalscoring problems, and is said to be excited about the challenge in front of him in Glasgow.
And according to a report by Football Scotland (28 December), the idea of working with Clement was seen as a “big pull” for Silva while new director of recruitment Nils Koppen also had a big influence on the deal coming together.
“Football Scotland understands several clubs were chasing a deal to bring Silva in short-term but the player himself is excited about the challenge in front of him at Ibrox,” they wrote.
“The opportunity to work with Clement, we understand, was a big pull for the attacker. New director of recruitment, Nils Koppen, is also believed to have had a big hand in bringing in the player.”
Huge
It’s a huge deal for Rangers to get over the line before the January transfer window is even open, because it was clear that a striker was a priority for the window.
Danilo and Kemar Roofe are constantly picking up injury problems, while Sam Lammers’ future at the club looks bleak now because of poor form while Cyriel Dessers has blown hot and cold since arriving in the summer.
Silva is young and has failed to really make an impact in the Premier League with Wolves, but when given regular game time at Anderlecht last season he was excellent and scored 11 goals before the loan got cut short and he headed to Eindhoven.
He is clearly a very natural finisher and Clement will know him well from his time in Belgium too, so he will have a clear idea of how he wants to use him.
A strong relationship between player and manager usually makes for a good transfer, and this could be the difference between winning the title or coming 2nd once again.
In other Rangers news, Player has already been and visited as Rangers transfer to be announced soon according to official club partner.