Clayton: The top-scoring striker with interest from English clubs | OneFootball

Recent reports have suggested that West Ham United are among the clubs interested in Rio Ave striker Clayton, who could be available for a cut-price fee – but just who is the little-known Brazilian topping the scoring charts in Portugal?

A former amateur player, 26-year-old Clayton Silva is currently shining in Brazil and could complete a remarkable rise in football should he manage to make it to the Premier League.

Clayton began his senior career with Lajeadense, playing in the regional leagues of Rio Grande do Sul in 2019 before slowly making his way to the top tier when he joined Coritiba on loan in 2022.

The striker's performances in Brazil earned a stint with Casa Pia in the Portuguese top flight where he scored 12 goals in 53 games for the Lisbon-based team. After returning to Brazil, Clayton was back in Portugal to join Rio Ave initially on loan. 

Unfortunately, it's been a difficult time for Rio Ave recently. Despite being owned by Nottingham Forest chief Evangelos Marinakis, the club was forced into a wave of redundancies despite competing in the Portuguese top flight.

While Rio Ave fans are concerned about their club they have at least managed to have some salvation on the pitch helped largely by the form of Clayton.

The striker has scored 10 goals in 13 league games this season, making him the joint-top scorer in the Primeira Liga alongside Vangelis Pavlidis of José Mourinho's Benfica. Considering that Rio Ave have only scored 17, Clayton is 58% of their goal output.

Rio Ave initially signed Clayton for just €3 million but would apparently be willing to part with him for €15 million – especially with the club currently in crisis. There's no guarantee that the Brazilian would be able to make a quick adaptation to the Premier League but for club's desperate for some attacking reinforcements he is a gamble worth taking.