Thiago Silva teases Chelsea departure

Stuart Telford

• 16 Oct 2023 20:19 BST
• 3 min read

Thiago Silva has hinted that he could return to former club Fluminense at the end of his Chelsea contract next summer.

Silva was already a month shy of his 36th birthday when he joined Chelsea on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2020, with many expecting him to call it a day after his initial one-year contract.

But after lifting the Champions League in 2021 he has proved a mainstay at the heart of the Blues defence heading into his fourth season since, and Mauricio Pochettino has expressed his admiration for the Brazil veteran.

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But that didn't stop the Argentine head coach overlooking Silva for the club captaincy when Cesar Azplilicueta left for Atletico Madrid this summer, instead handing Reece James the armband with Ben Chilwell and Conor Gallagher acting as his understudies.

Silva: 'a long-standing relationship'

Silva is out of contract at the end of the season, and despite starting all eight Premier League games this term, he refuses to rule out another move in 2024.

"This is a long-standing relationship, right?" he said when asked by TNT Sports in Brazil. "But I'd rather keep quiet for now. I have a family, I have children. So we have to think about that too. It's about seeing where to finish off this beautiful career."

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Now valued at €5.3 million per FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, Silva had an ETV high of €24m when in his PSG pomp seven years ago, but Fluminense, and indeed any other suitor, will fully intend to get him on a Bosman.

The evergreen Brazilian, now 39, has 113 caps for the Selecao and was part of the World Cup squad who got to the quarter-finals in Qatar last winter.

Fluminense made just €10m from Silva's transfer when they sold him to AC Milan in 2009. He and Zlatan Ibrahimovic later made the move to PSG together.