Marco Silva says he will help Emile Smith Rowe return to his “best level” at Fulham.

Smith Rowe has joined Fulham from Arsenal for a club-record fee of £34million and hopes to revitalise his career at Craven Cottage after struggling with both fitness and form.

The midfielder is in line to make his Fulham debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Friday night and Silva said: “The main thing for me was to feel the desire from Emile to come to our club.

“That made me push and convince our board [to sign him]. It’s a statement for us to go for him.

“He’s a top, top talent, and we want to make him play at his best level again. If he plays at his best level, he’s going to be a great player for us.”

Silva insists Fulham must sign a replacement defensive midfielder before the window closes, after Joao Palhinha joined Bayern Munich in a deal worth up to £47.5m. They have so far lodged offers for both Fluminense’s Andre and United’s Scott McTominay.

“We are pleased that we have Sasa Lukic and Harrison Reed who can play in that position, but we are going to sign a player in that position,” Silva said.

“The most important thing is that we know what we want and what we need.”

Fulham have also signed Villarreal centre-back Jorge Cuenca, but Silva is insistent on getting another defender, with Aston Villa’s Diego Carlos and Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen both of interest.

Silva said: “Central defence is another position we are going to cover. For sure, we have to sign a player for that position.

“The squad is far from completed. We lost players like Tosin [Adarabioyo], Tim Ream, Bobby [De Cordova-Reid], Joao, Willian. These were starting XI and crucial players for us.

“We have to rebuild again like last season when we lost Aleksandar Mitrovic.”