Chelsea: Silva’s free transfer worked, but Boateng’s wouldn’t

Thiago Silva’s free transfer worked out for Chelsea, but the Blues don’t need to make a habit of doing this kind of business.

Bayern Munich is the best club team in the world, as seen by the side’s spectacular Champions League title winning run last season—one in which unfortunately featured a two-legged drubbing of Chelsea. For this reason, Blues fans should be ecstatic when they hear their club’s name being mentioned in discussions with an outgoing Bayern player. That isn’t the case here, however.

Centerback Jerome Boateng’s contract expires at season’s end with the German giants deciding not to offer the defender an extension. Boateng has spent the last nine years in Munich, making over 200 appearances for the club. He can now enter pre-contract talks with interested parties as early as the January transfer window ahead of a move away this summer. One of the alleged interested teams—amongst Arsenal and Spurs—is Chelsea. The Blues should steer clear of the German defender as that is a transfer destined to fail.

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The most obvious reason Frank Lampard and co. should stay away is because of Boateng’s age. He recently turned 32 and although Chelsea has signed a few older players in recent years, this would actually make the side worse. Boateng’s flaws have started coming out more as he creeps up on his mid-30’s. If the Blues wanted a decent defender for depth purposes, they have a handful in their arsenal already. Boateng isn’t an upgrade over Antonio Rudiger (Joachim Low obviously agrees), Andreas Christensen or Fikayo Tomori at this stage in his career. Signing a 32-year-old centerback—who will be nearing 33 by the point he joins—to ride the bench is pointless.

Many will wonder why Thiago Silva’s name was not brought up in the discussion of age and I promise, there is a reason for that. Silva actually represents the perfect segue into why else Boateng makes little sense. The Brazilian may be 36 years old, but he’s maintained his world class status throughout his years. Boateng, on the other hand, has not. Considered one of the finest centerbacks in the world at one point, Boateng has spent the last few years of his career clinging onto a spot in the Bayern starting XI, often times being inserted by virtue of the fact his competition was injured. His international career has also seemingly come to an end courtesy of the aforementioned Low.

Silva succeeds in the Chelsea side because he is disciplined. The Brazil captain’s brilliant mind and positioning complement Kurt Zouma’s style of play perfectly. He hasn’t had to rely on his athletic ability too often considering the Frenchman does most of the work at the back. Silva’s the perfect short term solution as a sweeper centerback. That wouldn’t be the case if Boateng lined up alongside Zouma.

Boateng is careless. He always has been and he always will be. The 2014 World Cup winner has masked his flaws behind a tremendous amount of talent in the Bayern Munich side, but he’s still exposed from time to time. This is not to say he’s an incompetent centerback—in fact, he’s still got a lot left in the tank—he just doesn’t fit what Lampard is trying to do in west London. Boateng’s concentration is superb, his tackling ability (or lack thereof) and undisciplined play style make him a wild card for the Premier League.

The one spot where Boateng truly shines is his play on the ball. The German is an exceptionally good passer, and that’ll be an asset somewhere, just not Chelsea. In Silva and Christensen, the Blues already have a pair of centerhalves who are comfortable with the ball at their feet. Boateng has a lot to offer another club, he just isn’t the best fit for Premier League, let alone Chelsea. The Blues already possess players of his skillset and quality, all of which are younger than he is.

The free transfer of Silva has worked to perfection, but a move for Boateng would be disastrous. Chelsea doesn’t need to revert back to its old ways and continue to be stingy in the market because it worked once. The Blues’ future is bright, a move of this nature would only set them back again. David Alaba on the other hand, now that’s another story.

What do you think, should the Blues pursue Boateng? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!