The 20-year-old, who celebrates his birthday on the same day as his new contract and loan opportunity, will now gain vital experience while continuing his development in the top tier of Belgian football.
Silva has featured more than 60 times in gold and black during the past two seasons, but with less than half of those seeing the striker take to the field as part of the starting 11, the chance to play regular football for a side who will be pushing for a league title, as well as challenging in European competition this season, should be of great benefit to the Portuguese’s progression and growth as a professional.
Technical director Scott Sellars said: “We’ve had lots of discussions between myself and Bruno, and with Fabio as well, about what we feel is best for his development, and we felt that a season playing regularly would be very good for him at this point in his career.
“He’s only just turned 20 today, so he’s still a very young boy and he needs a season of playing regular senior football in a competitive league so he can come back to Wolves stronger.
“We saw with the performances of Morgan [Gibbs-White] last year how much of a positive impact a loan can have on a young player, so we believe it’s the right step in his development to follow the same path.”
Before making the switch to the Jupiler Pro League outfit, Silva put pen to paper on a new deal with Wolves, which will see the forward signed to the club until summer 2026, with the club holding an option for a further year.
“It was really important for us to sign Fabio to an extended contract before he went out on loan,” Sellars added. “As we’re letting him go from the club for a year, we thought it would be best for everyone involved to secure his future to Wolves for a little longer.
“Fabio understands what we’re trying to do, and this new contract and loan shows that we’re working together to help him develop to be the best player he possibly can be.”
Anderlecht enter the 2022/23 season off the back of another successful campaign where they finished third in the league standings, and subsequently earned a place in the third qualifying round for the Europa Conference League, as well as finishing runners-up in the Belgian Cup.
Under new management and with Silva set to join the squad, the Purple and White will hope to close the gap on last season’s champions Club Brugge.
Matt Jackson, Wolves’ strategic player marketing manager, said: “Anderlecht have a great profile as a club, a great history and they offer Fabio the chance to play some significant European competition football this season – which for any player is beneficial in expanding their experience levels.
“They’ve got a very professional structure at Anderlecht and have been excellent in the way they’ve negotiated the deal and their approach to us, but it’s also credit to Fabio that he hasn’t chosen an easy option, instead he’s opted to go out to another country, another culture and another European city, which will provide him with lots of different experiences.
“Regardless of his talent, Fabio is still a young player, very similar to Ki-Jana [Hoever] from our perspective, in terms of needing that game time, needing that exposure and needing to enjoy playing regularly and preparing for a game every week, and he will be fitter and stronger for that.”
