For the first time since the Blues’ embarrassing defeat to Brighton on the road, Graham Potter chose Thiago Silva to wear the captain’s armband on Friday evening. There was a lot of noise around the club leading up to the game considering the amount of money that the new ownership group poured into the squad during the month of January. CFC fans came out to see the 2022 World Cup Young Player of the Tournament, Enzo Fernandez, and Ukrainian international superstar, Mykhailo Mudryk.
Despite a quality outing by Fernandez in the middle of the park, fans left Stamford Bridge talking more about the stability of the backline than the attack that was supposed to be taking a large step forward.
Of course, it is going to take some time for players to get acclimated to their new environment in west London, but there was no bigger takeaway from the Fulham match than the amount of quality Silva, the free transfer in August of 2020 from Paris Saint-Germain possesses surrounded by the millions of pounds of players on the pitch at the Bridge against Fulham.
No matter how much money Todd Boehly can spend during transfer windows, it is clear after this Fulham contest, Silva is still in a class of his own.