Chelsea have set their sights on Paris Saint-Germain and Brazilian center back Thiago Silva, and his agent hasn’t ruled out a switch to Stamford Bridge in the near future.
Despite acquiring Marcos Alonso and David Luiz on deadline day of the summer transfer window, it is clear that world class reinforcements are still required in the Chelsea back-line. With Cahill and Ivanovic still going through a bad run of form, Chelsea cannot keep relying on a 35-year-old John Terry forever, if they want to get back to the top 4 of the Premier League and challenge for titles on all fronts.
According to Tuttermercatoweb, Chelsea have set their sights on David Luiz’s former PSG teammate, Thiago Silva. Getting the former Brazilian captain on a free would be a massive coup for Chelsea, who are desperately looking for defenders who can help replace their underperforming stars.
Speaking to Sport Witness, his agent Paulo Tonietto denied that he was in contact with Chelsea, but a move to London wasn’t impossible. He said, “Chelsea are a big club. And the English league is the best in the world.”
The 32-year-old has a contract that runs until June 2018 and he and his agent haven’t begun negotiating a new deal which would see him prolong his 5-year-stay at the Parc De Prince.
His agent confirmed this, saying “We’re not negotiating a new contract, let’s see what happens before December. Thiago’s deal ends on June 30th 2017 if PSG don’t qualify for the Champions League. Everything is possible in football.”
Silva is widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the world and has featured in the UEFA Team Of The Year on three consecutive occasions – in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Last season, he was named in the Champions League Squad of The Season.
His rumoured €42 million move to PSG in the summer of 2012 after 3 successful seasons at AC Milan made him the most expensive defender in the history of the game, before he was upstaged by David Luiz. Since then, he has helped PSG dominate the Ligue 1, winning every single domestic trophy and winning the League in all his 4 seasons there.
At 32 years of age, he may be the immediate short term term fix that Chelsea require. Despite spending 4 years in a league far less competitive than the English top flight, Silva is still one of the best players in all of Europe in his position and would be able to walk into this current Chelsea side.
He wouldn’t hamper the development of Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen and his talent and experience, combined with his leadership qualities, would make him a perfect fit for Antonio Conte’s side.
