KEY POINTS

  • The 39-year-old has signed a deal with the Tigers until the end of the season.
  • The former Sporting and Olympiacos boss has already won three major honours.

Marco Silva arrives in the Premier League with one of the toughest jobs imaginable ahead of him. The 39-year-old has signed a contract with Hull City until the end of the season. The club are rooted to the bottom of the Premier League, having not won in nine games.

The Tigers have taken just seven points from a possible 54. Thanks to injuries to Abel Hernandez and Will Keane, along with Dieumerci Mbokani's participation in the Africa Cup of Nations, they have just one centre-forward at their disposal for the rest of the month.

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So what do we know about the man who has opted for the most Herculean task in the Premier league this season?

Following a 15-year playing career, Silva moved out of the Estoril back-line and into the boardroom when he was named the club's director of football immediately after his retirement. He soon moved into the dugout as head coach and guided the club to promotion back to the Portuguese Primeira Liga after a seven-year absence in 2012, going onto secure a club-record fourth-place finish in the Portuguese top flight for the 2013-14 season.

Following Leonardo Jardim's move to Monaco, Silva was named the new Sporting manager in the summer of 2014. During his first and only season in the Portuguese capital, he ended the club's six-year wait for silverware by winning the Taça de Portugal, as well as securing qualification for the Champions League.

Marco Silva fact file:

Date of birth: 12 July 1977

Playing career: Belenenses, Atletico Clube de Portugal, Torfense, Rio Ave, Braga B, Salgueiros, Odivelas, Estoril

Managerial career: Estoril, Sporting, Olympiakos, Hull City

Major honours: Segunda Liga (Estoril, 2011-12), Sporting (Taça de Portugal, 2015), Greek Superleague, (Olympiakos 2015-16)

Just four days after ending the trophy drought, however, he was gone. Sporting insisted his sacking was with "just cause" with a detailed document also noting his failure to wear the club's official suit in the technical area during a cup match as one of the reasons for his dismissal.

A month later he was back in a job. Taking over at Olympiacos, he guided the Greek giants to a famous 3-2 win over Arsenal in the 2015-16 Champions League campaign. Ahead of that win, then-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho revealed his admiration for his young compatriot. Never hesitant to aim a dig at Arsenal or Arsene Wenger, Mourinho gave his backing to the man he affectionately called 'The Kid'

Marco Silva
Silva handed his first job in English football. Getty

"They [Arsenal] are in a group where a kid friend of mine, Marco Silva, he is the manager of Olympiacos," he said. "It would be fantastic for the kid's career to go through, so I have to be honest and say that I would like the kid and Olympiacos to go on."

Despite that win, Olympiacos failed to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions League. Instead, Silva went onto lead the club to a record 43rd league title before leaving at the end of the season, citing "personal reasons" for his sudden departure in June last year.

Silva's first game in charge will be against a fellow managerial debutant in Paul Clement in their FA Cup third round clash with Swansea City. On Tuesday, a trip to Manchester United looms for the first leg of Hull's EFL Cup semi-final. Welcome to England, Marco.

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