Thiago Silva has signed for Chelsea on a free contract. Who is the experienced defender and what can he bring to the table?
It was pretty well known that Chelsea was in the market for a new centerback this summer. The Blues ideally wanted Declan Rice despite him A: not being a centerback for at least two seasons and B: being extremely expensive. For now, Chelsea appears to have kicked the can down the road by signing Thiago Silva up for free. But who is the Brazilian defender and what can he bring to the Blues?
History
Silva’s career predates even Roman Abramovich’s ownership of Chelsea. Starting out in his native Brazil, the defender bounced around a few clubs with one abbreviated stint at Porto in between. It was after making a name for himself at Fluminense that he again attracted interest from Europe and Carlo Ancelotti’s AC Milan won the race.
Ancelotti had been picked up by Chelsea by the time Silva was actually allowed to play, but it was clear why the Italian was keen to bring the Brazilian to Milan. He almost immediately slotted into the starting XI and he arguably became one of Milan’s last great players before its more recent down fall. After three successful seasons in Italy, Silva was snapped up by Ancelotti’s latest project in the newly enriched Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG has gone on to define Silva’s club career. Captaining the French side, Silva has seen domestic success after domestic success with a revolving door of managers and superstars to work under and with. No matter how much PSG changed over the years, Silva remained a constant for PSG throughout.
Punctuated throughout his career were appearances with the Brazilian national team. Often captaining the side, he was part of a golden generation that was to culminate with a World Cup win on home soil. That obviously did not happen and Silva missed the disaster against Germany through suspension.
Silva managed to survive the purge of players in the wake of that embarrassment and he remains a key figure to the Brazilian national team even at the ripe old age of 35 (36 in September). Thanks to Brazil getting star struck by Neymar and deciding talent equals leadership, Silva is rarely captain anymore, but he is arguably the man everyone will turn to when things go south.
But is he any good?
Silva is arguably the greatest defender of his generation. Only Giorgio Chiellini can truly challenge him in longevity and ability. The simple fact of him remaining crucial to one of the best international teams in the world at his age shows his ability. Leading Paris Saint-Germain to a Champions League final and probably being the French side’s best player in his final match can also not be dismissed.
His ability to read the game is almost unparalleled among defenders. He has an almost super natural ability to know where the ball is going to end up long before it does. On the ball, he is able to marshal a side to play from the back as well as launch near pin-point passes to the forwards.
Then there is his leadership forged over the last decade. There are few players in the game that fans can look at and claim is a true leader on and off the pitch, but Silva is one of those guys. In an ever changing PSG side, he has kept consistency not only at the back, but throughout.
That is not to say any of that will translate directly to Chelsea. Leadership is a funny thing and just because a player is a leader at one club does not mean he will be a leader at another. Beyond that, there should be very real concerns about his pace and the effects that will have on the team as a whole.
It is correct to claim that PSG uses a high line like Chelsea, but one has to look deeper than that. If an opponent is playing against a team with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, do they really want to offer them space in behind to attack? The majority of teams not named Bayern Munich would look at those two, back off and cede the space to PSG. The French side then naturally is able to push up and Silva is able to go with them.
Unai Emery faced a different issue when he was manager. When PSG came under pressure, Silva would drop deeper knowing he had to create space to cope with a lack of pace. This, in turn, caused the other defenders to drop and suddenly the whole team would have to drop.
Thomas Tuchel mostly solved this issue by having PSG’s defending be more nuanced. The French side would fluctuate between a 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 depending on how far the opponent had advanced the ball between their lines. This allowed Silva added protection that covered for his lack of pace. They would have to drop deeper, faster, but PSG bought itself time to do so.
Given how physical and fast the Premier League is, this should be a concern for Frank Lampard and Chelsea. The Blues will have to come up with a solution to adjust around Silva if he is to become a starter. The current high line and aggressive press will simply collapse if Silva has to start dropping deep to cope with his inability to keep up with fast players.
Those negatives being said, Tuchel showed how simple the adjustment can be to make it work. If Lampard can do the same, he will have not only the best defender in the team for free, but fantastic leader to call upon on and off the pitch.
What does this mean for current and future centerbacks?
Chelsea had four centerbacks available before Silva’s signing. There was always a notion that any incoming centerback would lead to one outgoing. So one of Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger or Fikayo Tomori must make way—and that is not to even mention everyone returning from loan.
Rudiger is probably the safest due to his age and the incoming signings. Zouma should be safe, but rumors of him being shopped out have unfortunately not gone away. Christensen is probably next up, but the Blues seem hesitant to give up on his potential; that leaves Tomori, who could very much do with a loan though he will miss out on a mentorship with Silva.
As for incomings, it is hard to see the Blues bringing in another centerback if they are so eager to get a free agent with two months left in the window. The implication is that resources will be allocated elsewhere *cough* goalkeeper *cough* and the hunt for a new centerback will be delayed until next summer. With Silva’s deal being structured for the short term, the Blues have built in flexibility for that pursuit next summer with the coffers refreshed and when new targets become available.
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