Wildcard signing could take Pochettino's young Chelsea to the next level

Tom Weber

Updated: 9 May 2024 11:33 CDT
10 min read

Chelsea are in the market for a new centre-back.

Thiago Silva has announced that he will leave the club at the end of the season and his new side has already been revealed. The 39-year-old will return to Fluminense in his native Brazil for a third stint.

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Chelsea are expected to splash the cash on a replacement this summer. In keeping with their transfer policy under Todd Boehly, it will likely be a young centre-back, someone in the mould of Ousmane Diomane. The 20-year-old has an €80 million release clause at Sporting CP.

However, there is perhaps a shrewder alternative out there who could provide something similar to Silva: experience. Mauricio Pochettino's squad is very young and Chelsea's infuriating inconsistency this season has shown that this team could do with a few older heads.

Step forward Mats Hummels.

Current ETV

Mats Hummels

D (C)

Dortmund

Mats Hummels

D (C)

Dortmund

ETV Range

€2M - €3.3M

Hummels...to...Chelsea?

You're probably thinking to yourself, 'what is this guy smoking?', but Hummels has shown in the Champions League this season that he still can still perform at a very high level. The 35-year-old has been nothing short of sensational during Borussia Dortmund's fairytale run to the final at Wembley, recently scooping yet another Man of the Match performance after proving the game-winner against Kylian Mbappe and PSG.

The 2014 world champion has put all of the experience accumulated over the past 15+ years to good use in Europe this term and his defensive nous in combination with his trademark outside-of-the-boot passing (it's literally his Instagram handle) has proved that age can often just be a number in football.

Of course, Hummels isn't getting any younger and neither is he getting any faster. In fact, his athleticism has never been his biggest asset anyway, but what he lacks in pace, he makes up for in positioning. Yet despite his spectacular form in the Champions League, Hummels could leave Dortmund this summer.

The veteran is out of contract and long-time teammate Marco Reus has already announced his departure. There is something of a generational shift happening at Borussia Dortmund and Hummels recently admitted that he has not yet decided what he wants to do next.

It is possible that Dortmund will offer him a new deal, but the former German international is free to negotiate with any interested party right now. Should Chelsea of all clubs, a club now renowned for only signing young players, make a move for him?

Well, we are not suggesting that they definitely should, but Hummels could offer pretty much the same thing as Thiago Silva. Indeed, though data analytics firm SciSports believe that his current ability level is below Silva's, Hummels' decline in recent seasons has been much, much less noticeable.

SciSkill development

Future prediction (with uncertainty range)

Mats Hummels
Thiago Silva

The 35-year-old's SciSkill, calculated by analysing hundreds of data points, has dropped by just 0.5 over the past six months, whereas Silva has endured a 'rapid decline' exemplified by a 6.9 drop. Over the past three years, Silva's rating has plunged by a massive 20 points.

According to SciSports, Hummels has still been one of the Bundesliga's best centre-backs this season despite his advanced years. The German still has an awful lot to offer and bringing his experience on board to replace Thiago Silva could be a shrewd decision, though we acknowledge that the chances of this materialising are very slim indeed.