Back in 2018, West Ham United, sensing value in the Iberian market, set their sights on two of the brightest young talents in Portuguese football.
At the time, there was interest in a Benfica B prospect with a mop of floppy hair and enough natural talent to fill Lisbon’s Tagus River to the brim.
Joao Felix was his name. A name which world football would come to know very well, Felix securing a staggering £113 million move to Atletico Madrid on the back of a scintillating breakout campaign after rumours of West Ham United’s admiration emerged, via Sky Sports.
Flash forward to 2025 and, on loan at AC Milan via an ill-fated second spell at Chelsea, the one-time Barcelona playmaker is approaching the latest crossroad in a winding, cul-de-sac of a career in which he has collected European powerhouses like infinity stones.
As for Xande Silva, the Primeira Liga jewel West Ham would eventually get their hands on back in 2018, his own career has taken on a similarly nomadic feel.
Albeit with a much less glamorous sheen.
West Ham United signed Xande Silva while admiring Joao Felix
A stunning four-minute hat-trick on his debut for The Hammers’ reserve side set lofty early standards the former Vitoria Guimaraes starlet would struggle to reach again.
While Joao Felix was winning the La Liga title under Diego Simeone in 2020/21, Xande Silva was spending the year out on loan at Greek outfit Aris. A permanent move to Nottingham Forest came about that summer.
However, making only nine league appearances combined for The Hammers and Forest, Silva was then farmed out to Dijon in France’s second tier – he struggled to ‘cut the mustard’ there either – before leaving European football entirely via a switch to Atlanta United.
Now, as Joao Felix flatters to deceive once again this time in the iconic red and white stripes of AC Milan, a 28-year-old Xande Silva is hoping to reestablish himself is a sizeable fish in a relatively small pond.
Xande Silva leaves Atlanta United for MLS strugglers St Louis
He joined St Louis FC in April, putting pen to paper with a club who finished rock bottom of the MLS Western Conference in 2024.
Coached by former Aston Villa captain Olof Mellberg, the Mississipi-based outfit are the latest to take a punt on a footballer who’s once-vast potential looks destined to go unfulfilled.
“He’s a player who brings speed and versatility to our attack and is very dangerous,” their globe-trotting sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel tells the St Louis Post-Dispatch. “We believe his skill set fits with the way we want to play.”
“He’s competed at a high level in multiple countries, including in France, Portugal, England and in MLS, and we believe his skill set fits with the way we want to play. We’re excited to have him here and look forward to what he’ll bring to the group.”
For the man himself, Xande Silva is just glad to find a club willing to put their faith in him seven years after a Hammers hat-trick which proved to be the mother of all false dawns.
“[St Louis’ interest] caught me by surprise,” Silva admits.
At least, at the age of 25, Joao Felix still has time to make up for all those wasted years. Turning 28 in March, Xande Silva is running out of such luxuries.
This feels like, perhaps not quite last-chance saloon, but certainly an opportunity which cannot pass him by.
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