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Shortly after helping Fluminense reach the semi-finals of the Club World Cup final with another dominant display in defence, Thiago Silva's attention had already turned to a potential reunion with Chelsea. The Brazilian freely admitted that he'd be rooting for his former club in their last-eight encounter with Palmeiras. As the man himself said after leaving west London last summer, "Once a Blue, always a Blue."
As farewells go, Thiago Silva's Chelsea exit couldn't have been much fonder. He was just about to turn 36 when he arrived and has since admitted that he only expected to spend a single season at Stamford Bridge. So, for him to have made 155 appearances for the Blues surpassed all of his - and his employers' - expectations.
Consequently, he departed with the best wishes of the club, who were never going to stand in the way of a fantastic servant who wanted to re-join Fluminense on a free transfer. Chelsea had also already embarked on a radical rejuvenation of their squad, and retaining the services of a defender approaching his 40th birthday simply didn't fit with their business model.
And yet as one of the game’s great captains prepares to lead Fluminense into battle against the Blues in New Jersey on Tuesday, the suspicion remains that Thiago Silva is precisely the kind of player - and character - that Enzo Maresca's young and expensively-assembled squad still lacks ahead of the 2025-26 season...
