Why Thiago Silva would be perfect for Chelsea next season

Why Thiago Silva would be perfect for Chelsea next season

As the majority of Chelsea fans may already know, Thiago Silva has been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge. It was announced that Silva will be leaving PSG at the end of the summer but expressing his desire to stay in Europe. I have already seen a mixture of opinions on Twitter, debating whether we should go for him or not, but I personally believe he is exactly what Frank Lampard needs. 

The first problem fans may have with Silva joining Chelsea, who turns 36 in September, is his age. Legendary club centre backs, John Terry and Marcel Desailly, both left the club at a similar age to what Silva is now - so why would Chelsea bring in an ageing defender when they had previously let others at that age go too?

The difference is that there was a clear decline in quality from both Terry and Desailly. Terry didn't suit Antonio Conte's three at the back system because of his lack of pace and Mourinho had let Desailly go to make room for Champions League-winning, Ricardo Carvalho. Silva, on the other hand, has just reached a Champions League final and is quite clearly, still at the top of his game. 

Thiago Silva has been a major factor to why PSG have done so well this season. If PSG goes on to win the Champions League, they will be the first team ever to win the quadruple with Silva being the heartbeat of it all. They have only conceded five times during their European campaign, keeping clean sheets against Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig. Age clearly doesn't seem to be the problem. 

The reason why Chelsea need someone like him is that he can lead. Silva is currently the captain of PSG, whilst also previously captaining both AC Milan and country, Brazil. The Blues are crying out for someone to take hold of their defence, command the players around him and Thiago Silva makes the perfect candidate. 

When Kurt Zouma had his first stint with Chelsea, during the 14/15 season, he was excellent. He was young, he was quick, he was great in the air and totally reliable. For me, Zouma still has all these traits but has looked a little lost at times during the season. The feeling I have is that because Zouma had an experienced head next to him in John Terry, he could rely on Terry's ability to command. If you look at the partnerships Zouma's had this season, there is not one leader that stands out. 

If Chelsea can find a leader to fit next to Zouma, I think you can work a really good partnership for the season. People may also say "Thiago Silva won't have the legs to deal with the Premier League, he's too slow" - well, if you put Kurt Zouma next to him, I don't think you'll have many problems about being beat for pace! 

John Terry stated that the player he learnt from the most was Marcel Desailly, saying "I would always use to talk to defenders and try and learn from them in training and stuff like that. They use to always help me after training too." If Chelsea were able to sign someone with the experiences Thiago Silva has, he could not only help our backline but also help teach others around him. He could have a major effect on the likes of both Fikayo Tomori and Kurt Zouma on their future playing career.

One of the main reasons why I feel this would be an excellent transfer is because he would be free. He has stated that he is open to take a significant pay cut to what he is currently earning at PSG, meaning Chelsea may be able to work quite a cheap deal with him. 

Because Silva would have joined on a free, it would allow Chelsea to be able to spend in other areas too, such as bringing in Kai Havertz or Ben Chilwell at left-back. So if we are able to sign him but it, unfortunately, turns out his best days are behind him, there is no real risk of losing any large amount of money from it anyway! It will also give Chelsea more time to look for a long term centre back next summer instead of rushing and finding a worse solution to what we already have now. 

For me, this is an absolute no brainer from a Chelsea point of view and I hope to see Thiago Silva leading us out on the first day of the season.