He may not be able to communicate effectively in English but Gor Mahia’s Brazilian striker Wilson Silva has promised to bang in the goals at his new workstation, starting with Sunday’s Mashemeji derby against AFC Leopards.
Silva who joined the Kenyan champions a few ago following a recommendation from the club’s Portuguese coach Vaz Pinto has also talked up the quality within the Kenyan champions’ rank.
K’Ogalo and Silva will play host to Leopards at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, for the first time this season, in a fixture that will be played behind closed in line with the government regulations aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19.
Nairobi News caught up with the burly striker on Wednesday at the Camp Toyoyo grounds in Nairobi during the team’s training session. He asserts that he is a complete footballer who always yearns to win every game.
He joined the record champion last week from Fortaleza FC which plays in the Categoria Primera B in Brazil where he scored five goals last season.
Even though Silva understands only Portuguese, this scribe was forced to use the services of Andrew Juma and Michael Apudo to communicate with him through sign language.
“I have heard about the derby and they have informed me this is the most important game in this country. My target is to score goals and for the shortest time I have been in this team, everyone talks of wining in the derby,” said Silva, sometimes asserting his points in his Portuguese.
During the session, Silva who is naturally a central striker but can also play on the flanks made complete passes, won the ball, and made runs for his colleagues across the attack.
The 20-year-old forward who sat out of his team’s 3-1 win against Bandari last weekend, asserts that he is ready to hit the ground running in the big game.
A number of Green Army fans also turned up to watch Silva just to be sure of his football prowess.
“Gor has optimistic fans who have welcomed me well since my arrival. My work is to score goals in the club matches and win titles. I have to begin with the derby,” he added.
Vaz Pinto was occasionally forced to stop training in a bid to interpret instructions to the new signing.
The signing of Silva drew mixed reactions from Gor Mahia fans who questioned how the financially crippled giants will cater for his salaries.
Some fans are also wary he could flop like compatriot Giovanni Rodriguez who signed for the club in 2013 but left without playing a single game.
In the 2013 season, as K’Ogalo were racing to bag their first Kenyan Premier League title after 18 years drought, Gor swooped in Rodriguez who became the first-ever player from outside Africa to ply his trade on Kenyan soil.
However the hype, excitement and bragging of K’Ogalo fans turned into agony, shame, ridicule and nightmare, when Rodriguez who was hyped as a deadly finisher struggled to even juggle a football.
Giovanni was released by the then Croatian coach Zdravko Logarusic and the technical bench without playing even a single match.
To sum it all it later emerged that Gor was duped by agents who convinced them to sign the player.
