But the way the Australian winger has approached his Middlesbrough return on the back of his disappointing loan spells last term and the challenge of playing in an unfamiliar position has impressed the head coach enormously.
And while Boro will still prioritise the signing of a left wing-back ahead of the transfer deadline, Silvera looks to have done enough this summer to have played his way into Edwards’ plans for the season ahead.
And for that, after a nightmare year of two failed loan spells at Portsmouth and Blackpool, the 24-year-old deserves immense credit.
As Edwards has explained before, Silvera knocked on his door very early in the summer and told of his desire to still make a success of his time at the club when the understandable expectation might well have been that he’d be moved on this summer.
Edwards’ response?
“Go and show me.”
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And Silvera has done exactly that, catching the eye in pre-season and most likely playing his way into the starting XI for Saturday’s Championship opener against Swansea City.
“Fans want to see people who want to play for the club and play with passion, and Sammy’s certainly doing that,” said Edwards.
“He’s having a right go. He’s not getting everything right, but none of us are. There will be mistakes; he’s a human being at the end of the day. But he’s showing lots of effort, endeavour and then quality in the right moments as well. That’s all we can ask from anybody.”
Silvera enjoyed what was his best performance of the summer in the final friendly against Deportivo at the weekend.
With Alex Bangura currently out injured and Edwards viewing Neto Borges as more of a left sided centre-half, Silvera is currently top of the pecking order at left wing-back.
Reinforcements will arrive, with Columbus Crew’s Max Arfsten a leading target.
But even if Silvera doesn’t remain a first choice player and nailed on starter, he’s now very much in Edwards’ thinking.
“As I previously told you, he came to see me at the start of the summer and told me how much he wanted to be here and try and be a part of it,” said the head coach.
“I said to him, ‘right, go and show me’. He’s been playing what’s a bit of a foreign position to him. Where I’m at, and wanting to put square pegs in square holes, he’s as close as I’ve got to a square for that position at this moment. He’s made a good job of it.
“That was a challenging game for him [against Deportivo] as well, because there were a lot of big decisions for him to make, when to go out or get back in alongside the centre halves. He added some end product as well, which was excellent.”
