Leonardo Lopez De Silva Welcome Aboard | Vital Football

Leonardo Lopez De Silva Welcome Aboard

ZAKKY

ZAKKY

Vital Football Hero
Newly-promoted Championship side Wigan Athletic have signed Peterborough United midfielder Leonardo Da Silva Lopes on a four-year contract.

Wigan stated an "undisclosed" fee was paid, but Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony confirmed they accepted a "seven figure" offer for the player.

Lisbon-born Da Silva, 19, has played 108 games since his April 2015 debut against Crawley, aged 16.

"This is a really strong addition to our squad," said boss Paul Cook.

"Leo has been one of the best young players in the EFL over the past couple of seasons."

MacAnthony tweeted: "Delighted for you Leo & well done to our Academy with another seven-figure sale on talented teenager who will do brilliant as he rises through the leagues.

"Not always appreciated as 'One of our own' whilst here but football people can see the talent. We will miss you Leo."
 
As a Wigan fan who is also a frequent follower of Peterborough United, I can't tell you how excited I am by this signing - it's right up my street!

I'm sure the usual suspects will fling internet statistics at this thread to convince everyone he's no good a la Naismith, but I'm going off my personal experience of watching Lopes develop and grow as a player first-hand over the last few years..

He is definitely inconsistent and can sometimes drift through games anonymously, like a certain Mr Powell on occasion - but which 19 year old doesn't? His talent and overall footballing skillset is tremendous and undoubtedly above League One level - like Powell's - and if he was just a little bit more well rounded as a player he'd already be in the top flight - but he wouldn't be coming to Wigan if he had everything in his locker!

His particular style as a footballer doesn't necessarily suit the physicality of League One, and yet Lopes has taken to the pressure of playing against well-rounded and massively experienced seniors incredibly well over the last couple of years, and his confidence on and off the ball defies his age. I've always thought that he's the type of player who'd benefit from having better players around him and from being in a league more dependent on star quality and finesse.

At 19, he obviously has so much room to grow and plenty to offer us as a versatile midfield threat this season. Compared to the ridiculously inflated prices we'd be paying for a player already competing towards the top of the Championship, this to me is an incredibly astute acquisition that both caters to the future and also immediately improves the squad overall going into next season.

I said at the start of the transfer window that whilst most clubs will immediately flock to the star names in Marriott and Maddison, the more astute clubs will be wise and target some of the other players in Posh's always deep pool of talent with just as much potential who'll cost a bit less. I had hoped we'd target Gwion Edwards, but Lopes is another who certainly fits the bill.
 
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Amongst the usual whining from Peterborough fans a number claiming he’s their most talented academy product in years and has the potential to play in the Premier League. Also a hefty sell-on fee.
 
Never heard of the lad or have any recollection of seeing him play. As such there's no opinion I can offers present.

We've signed him so the consensus will be that he's the best thing since beer was invented. As such it seems there's little point in digging a little deeper and gathering info from a variety of sources on him to publish on here and discuss, it would probably distress too many. If you listened to the experts on here you'd think Posh were Champions League contenders given the number of players we should be signing from them. As it is they're still League 1 so other than bandwagon hype I don't know what's going on there.

Anyhow welcome aboard to the lad, he's only 19 and we've splashed out a mill so clearly there's potential in there somewhere.
 
Surprised! I think would be an understatement. In the other thread(realistic transfers) when i included the peterborough players outside of our reach i put da silva first for a reason. He's raw, but has massive potential. Similar to morsy he will work back to win the ball, has the ability to drive forward with the ball from midfield. He will add extra forward momentum to our play. Also strong when pressing, he will put a foot in to win the ball back. Looking forward to seeing much more of him in blue and white.
 
Made in Wigan said:
Never heard of the lad or have any recollection of seeing him play. As such there's no opinion I can offers present.

We've signed him so the consensus will be that he's the best thing since beer was invented. As such it seems there's little point in digging a little deeper and gathering info from a variety of sources on him to publish on here and discuss, it would probably distress too many. If you listened to the experts on here you'd think Posh were Champions League contenders given the number of players we should be signing from them. As it is they're still League 1 so other than bandwagon hype I don't know what's going on there.

Anyhow welcome aboard to the lad, he's only 19 and we've splashed out a mill so clearly there's potential in there somewhere.
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Another positive comment from you I see. If he is only half as good as the last midfielder we got from Peterborough Jimmy Bullard I'll be more than made up
 
As I said zakky, know nowt about him so can't comment and see a little point in finding out to discuss him on here as balanced debate isn't the done thing. On the surface his age, career appearances and fee suggest a reasonable investment. And yes if he's as good as Jimmy I'll be delighted.
 
I forgot to add that Lopes is definitely a confidence player who needs some positivity and support to get the best out of him. Unfortunately, due to the fact Posh fans are notoriously difficult to please at the best of times, Lopes was often subject to a lot of vitriol and grief from the stands whenever he made a mistake, which unsurprisingly for a teenager clearly had quite an effect on his performances on occasion this season - something Darragh MacAnthony alluded to on social media and might have been a contributing factor in him leaving the club.

I'm hoping due to the fact he isn't likely to play every minute like he did at Posh our fans will be a bit more patient and forgiving considering his age, but I do worry that the 'bloody rubbish' contingent will be straight on him the first time he's dispossessed in midfield!
 
Some guy on Twitter responded to the "he's rubbish" comments with something along the lines of "well he can't be worse than Massey". The morons found a common language.
Highlights reels can be hugely deceptive, but some of the clips of him tracking back and winning the ball back were Kante-esque. Very sensible purchase though in my eyes as looks like he could cover right back, central midfield and winger from the bench.
Fingers crossed.
 
From the perspective of our future gambler owners: if he has a crap season or two our 1 million (and I'd bet it is less than that, but rising to it with add-ons) becomes a few hundred thousand.
If he has a good season or two then it becomes 7-10 million in today's market. Gotta be worth a punt providing we're not too dependent on him.
 
Nail on head there Russia, about being too dependent on a young player. We saw it the season before last when Power was played week in week out. His form didn't merit it and as a consequence he seemed to suffer when the best thing for his development would have been to leave him out for a spell rather than play him consistently and receive abuse. Clearly he isn't going to be loaned out to another L1 team given the appearances he already has at that level so will be interesting to see how he will fit into Cooks plans - I'm guessing he'll be used similar to how he's introduced Cole.
 
BrickLatic said:
ive herd hes shite.
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It depends if you rate cook or not. He rates da silva highly. Everyone has their opinions, but the one that matters is the manager.

From peterborough's site;
Da Silva won his first call up to the Portugal under 20 squad last term for fixtures against Germany and England and made 52 appearances in all competitions last season.

He made 46 appearances the season before in all competition's. Not to bad for an 18year old, 19 now.
 
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He didn't play against us last season (he was not fit for one game and on the bench for the other). I saw him play once on tv against Blackburn at full back / wing back and he was absolutely shocking - so I'm not sure if he was just out of position (i always heared he was a CM) or just having an off day. But in his youtube highlights he looked a completely different player, i know you can cherry pick highlights to make anyone look good but you get the impression he's a very exciting lad with plenty of pace and willing to run at players but still quite raw and yet to fill out.

A quick look at the Peterborough feedback on line and they weren't too flattering but he's been a regular under every manager he's had, played over 100 games despite being so young and was one of the few players that Peterborough didn't place on the transfer list at the start of the summer.

I doubt the up front fee would be as high as seven figures (i'm guessing it only gets to anywhere near a mill based on various clauses) but it sounds like this is one of the largest transfer fee's we've paid in quite some time, so I don't think the fee would've gone anywhere near that high if both clubs didn't think he has a lot of potential.

I look forward to seeing what Paul Cook can get out of him.

Highlights for anyone interested
 
I would be surprised if Cook played him at fullback or wingback .You do not want to put a 19 year old in a position where he can be had physically by big strong wingers in the championship. Cook I think will use him out wide because he likes players who can track back but also have pace to get up field and run at defenders.
 
king_dezeeuw06 said:
He didn't play against us last season (he was not fit for one game and on the bench for the other). I saw him play once on tv against Blackburn at full back / wing back and he was absolutely shocking - so I'm not sure if he was just out of position (i always heared he was a CM) or just having an off day. But in his youtube highlights he looked a completely different player, i know you can cherry pick highlights to make anyone look good but you get the impression he's a very exciting lad with plenty of pace and willing to run at players but still quite raw and yet to fill out.

A quick look at the Peterborough feedback on line and they weren't too flattering but he's been a regular under every manager he's had, played over 100 games despite being so young and was one of the few players that Peterborough didn't place on the transfer list at the start of the summer.

I doubt the up front fee would be as high as seven figures (i'm guessing it only gets to anywhere near a mill based on various clauses) but it sounds like this is one of the largest transfer fee's we've paid in quite some time, so I don't think the fee would've gone anywhere near that high if both clubs didn't think he has a lot of potential.

I look forward to seeing what Paul Cook can get out of him.

Highlights for anyone interested
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He's not a fullback and never will be unless he strengthens significantly a la Valencia and Moses, but he's even more flimsy than even they were whilst at Wigan. The reason he was played out of position occasionally seemed to be because both McCann and Evans wanted him on the pitch at all times for creativity purposes, even if they already had midfielders filling his usual roles and were willing to risk playing him in unfamiliar positions. Their thought process was that the team was better off with him on the pitch - even if forced into a weaker role - than it would be with Lopes sitting on the subs bench. If that's not a ringing endorsement from 'football people' who clearly valued his ability, then I don't know what is.
 
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