Eintracht Frankfurt is on track to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 1960 this season. Adi Hütter’s team is no less than seven points ahead of number five Borussia Dortmund and can take a giant step on Saturday if it achieves a favorable result in-house against Wout Weghorst’s Wolfsburg. All eyes are on André Silva, who two years ago had to make way for Luuk de Jong at Sevilla and is now finally realizing his enormous potential in Germany.
By Thijs Verhaar
In the Bundesliga, it is quite rightly often about Robert Lewandowski and Erling Braut Haaland, but the latter must really give priority to Silva on the top scorers list. With 22 goals in 25 games, he hit goal just once more than the Norwegian sensation of Borussia Dortmund. With that, the Portuguese finally shows why AC Milan put a sum of 38 million euros on the table in 2017 to take over him from FC Porto. In San Siro, however, he never stood out for a moment, but via a special detour, the now 25-year-old Silva still finds his way to the world top at Eintracht Frankfurt.
“Whether I am finally showing the best version of myself? I think I have always stayed the same, only now I have the experience and lessons I needed ”, the striker explains his own success in an interview with Transfer market. “I have always had in mind that I would make it to the top, but it is difficult when, as a young boy, you step alone into a new world where no one gives you the right information. Everyone has to go their own way and I struggled to adapt to all the obstacles I encountered along the way. But every year I get a little better and stronger. I have always and everywhere tried my best and here (in Frankfurt, ed.) I have found stability. Maybe that’s why it will finally come out. ”
André Silva in the shirt of FC Porto, where he had his big break in 2016.
Silva comes from FC Porto’s youth academy, where he had the top clubs to sort out for years. He ran almost one on one with the national youth teams of Portugal and also scored many hits in the Liga Portugal 2 at FC Porto B.However, he insisted on breaking through in his own country and had quite a bit of trouble with the transition from youth football to the pros. As a twenty-year-old he only made his first goal in the main force and then it took another year before he finally established his name. Silva scored 16 league goals in 2016/17 and also made four more in the Champions League, bringing Milan over with a bid of 38 million euros.
This made him the second most expensive purchase in club history at the time (behind Rui Costa, 42 million), but with only two league hits he had a very bad debut season in Serie A. The club took sixth place next to the so-dreamed return in the Champions League and decided to directly victimize Silva despite his five-year contract. It was let to Seville, which rented it for a year and negotiated a lump sum payment of 38 million euros. With that, Milan would get off without a loss, and that also seemed to come true when Joaquín Caparrós, as technical director of Seville, announced after two months that the Spaniards would use the option.
Silva had a dramatic season with AC Milan and was loaned to Sevilla in 2018/19.
“We have the option to keep the player here. Milan can say what it wants, as there are many other clubs who want him, but no one can do anything. So I can reassure the fans. He will stay with us and will get a multi-year contract ”, Caparrós proudly announced after Silva’s lightning start. The Portuguese made a hat-trick on his debut against Rayo Vallecano and also made two against Real Madrid. However, after Caparrós’s words, he collapsed and a knee injury left him sidelined for the last two months of the season. As a result, he came no further than 11 goals in 40 games and that was too thin for Sevilla to double the transfer record. Instead, Luuk de Jong was bought from PSV and Silva had to return to AC Milan, which this time let him out for two seasons to Eintracht Frankfurt and in exchange was able to take over Ante Rebic from the Germans on a rental basis.
In the Deutsche Bank Park, history seemed to repeat itself for Silva when he was seriously injured after a good start with three goals in four appearances, but the corona stop turned out fantastic for him. He returned fully fit and scored eight goals in the last ten games. With that he earned a permanent transfer, because Frankfurt decided to convert the rental deal into a definitive transfer. This only required a sum of three million euros, but it should be noted that Ante Rebic went the other way for a similar amount, while both players represented a transfer fee of just under thirty million euros.
Adi Hütter is the architect of the current Eintract Frankfurt, which saw its entire vanguard leave in 2019. Jovic is now hired back from Real Madrid, but is sitting on the bench at the hands of Silva.
In 2019, the same Rebic was part of a dangerous trio from Frankfurt that also consisted of Sébastien Haller and Luka Jovic. Together they were responsible for no fewer than 41 goals and a seventh place as a result, with which a ticket for the Europa League was enforced for the first time in almost twenty years. However, the result was that all three attackers made a top transfer and the club had to rebuild for the future. It did so with the Austrian Adi Hütter, who carefully worked on an excellently functioning 3-4-2-1 formation with Silva as the deep striker. Frankfurt only lost three times this season and has not even been beaten in-house.
The team has a block of two controlling midfielders in front of three central defenders, who together guard the balance. The two fullbacks steam up for ninety minutes and frequently join the forefront, with Silva being the most advanced post with two swift dribblers Amin Younes and Daichi Kamada behind them. With their runs, they create gaps, where the Portuguese always dives flawlessly. The fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and the Brazilian Ronaldo Nazário made all his 22 goals from within the sixteen, but you are doing him short when you say that it is only tickers and penalties. He scored five times from the spot and seventeen times in open field play, both with left and right and with the head.
“My secret is that I have always kept working on myself and fully realize that it has to be done now. With the whole team, it is our strength that we know each other’s qualities and try to complement each other ”, Silva explains his productivity in conversation with Transfer market. “I can therefore certainly conclude that this was the right step for me. I almost had to change my life to get here, but it has taken me further than ever. I now notice that I am happy and can also show it on the field, ”said the striker, who is still in Frankfurt until mid-2023 and is frequently mentioned by clubs such as Manchester City, Chelsea and Barcelona.
For those teams, Haaland is the absolute top target, but with an asking price of more than 100 million and heavy additional requirements from the Norwegian and agent Mino Raiola, it might be more attractive for the English and Spanish top clubs to look at the much cheaper Silva. It is estimated that he does not have to cost more than sixty million euros and, at the age of 25, has reached the best phase of his career, making a transfer to the absolute top attractive. “Of course I also have my goals and dreams,” he admits honestly. “But at the moment I only focus on the goals that I have set for myself here. That motivates me to keep working hard. ”
In any case, the short-term objectives are clear. Be part of the national team that travels to the European Championship as defending champions and ensure that Frankfurt reaches the Champions League for the first time in fifty years. To achieve this, one must defend a seven-point lead in the remaining seven games over Haaland’s Borussia Dortmund, which can therefore also be thwarted by Silva on this front. Last weekend BVB the ideal opportunity to narrow the gap in the head-to-head match, but Frankfurt won 1-2. Haaland did not score, while the Portuguese decided the top game in minute 87 with a handsome header. André Silva is back, and how.