Arsenal are set to re-sign Wellington Silva from Fluminense, before selling him on with Bordeaux linked.
The Brazilian agreed to join our club as a 16 year-old initially, but was forced to wait until his 18th birthday to join officially, due to work permit regulations. Silva was then told he would be granted a special-talent visa, only for that to be rescinded, which forced our club to send him out on loan, where he eventually joined Levante on a temporary deal.
Silva subsequently found himself playing for six different clubs whilst on the books of our club between 2011 and 2016, before we agreed to let him return to Brazil with Fluminense. His return was not simple however, with the agreement that we retained 55% of his commercial rights, and we are not set to trigger a clause which will see him return to our club, only to be sold.
Arsenal will receive 55% of the fee that his new club agrees to pay, which is mooted to be £5.5 Million, meaning our club will receive just under £3 Million for his sale, less than they originally paid to sign him as a teenager.
Bordeaux are believed to have this deal wrapped up, so much so that Silva will not even return to London, and will instead fly straight to France to sign for his new club, and Fluminense will receive 45% of the proceeds of his new switch.
I don’t see the 24 year-old setting the stage alight, and I will be very surprised to hear of him ever earning a big-money move to a big club, but you have to feel slightly sorry for a player who had hopes of being an Arsenal star, but ended up spending six years out on loan doing very little instead…
We all have our failed transfers, but at least our club can boast recouping the majority of the fee initially spent unlike some clubs…
Could Silva ever become a top player? Does he still have the potential?
Pat J