Thiago Silva was playing for Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League Final shouldering the responsibility to keep Champions League top-scorer Robert Lewandowski quiet exactly one month ago.
The whole world had their eyes on the match as the Brazilian defender’s side slipped from winning the best club competition in football after Kingsley Koman netted a header.
Now its the month of September and the former PSG captain is up for the next challenge in English Premier League. He is preparing once again to be the very best and show how he can adapt to any league.
A lot of excitement is there among the fans who are keen to see his debut match for Chelsea. He will make his first appearance for Lampard’s side today against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup. The threat of Liverpool is long gone and now he will set to face Barnsley who hasn’t won or scored any goals this season so far.
Barnsley is sitting in 20th position of their league and will travel to Stamford Bridge today to battle against the home side in the third round of the Carabao Cup. From marking Bayern star, Robert Lewandowski to Tykes forward, Conor Chaplin -its been quite a journey for the Brazilian captain.
The 36-years-old defender moved from Paris Saint-Germain to Stamford Bridge in this summer transfer window as he was impressed with the proposition Lampard laid in front of him.
Although eyes will be set on the big summer spending additions in the attack(Timo Werner and Kai Havertz), the free signing of the former PSG defender will prove to be the biggest difference in the squad.
In his trophy-laden career, Thiago has won league titles at every European side he has featured. In 2011, he won the Serie A and then went to Paris where he won seven out of eight Championship titles.
He also has won international trophies for Brazil. He has lifted both the FIFA Confederations Cup and the Copa America with Brazil in 2013 and 2019 respectively.
There are, of course, question marks over whether he is still capable of producing at the highest level at 36 years of age. Those fears, however, are not shared with the player himself.
Although he is 36 and questions are been raised if he will suit in the new League or not, surely it will be a matter of time before he starts playing matches in and out and leads the backline of the Blues in important matches, with Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud voicing his support for the new Blues arrival to adapt to the Premier League in a swift fashion.
“Physically, I feel very young and I’m very well prepared for this. People who know me know how much I love my work; how I put in 200%,” said Silva.
With Silva’s addition to the Chelsea squad, the Chelsea coach will try to bring consistency in his squad’s defence, an area that has been a severe headache for Lampard.
Chelsea has failed to find a regular centre-back pair despite having the likes of Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Fikayo Tomori as the options in centre-half.
This clear issue in Lampard’s side has led to poor defensive performances in crucial matches since last few seasons like the defeat in the FA Cup final against Arsenal, and even in Sunday’s defeat to defending Champions, Liverpool.
Silva can bring leadership qualities to his young defence and can inject confidence through his guidance. He has been the captain of Brazil as well as PSG so there’s no doubt with his leadership abilities. In Cesar Azpilicueta’s absence in the Carabao Cup against Barnsley, Silva is expected to wear the captain’s armband in his debut match.
Although he has just joined the Blues this summer, Lampard believes a leadership role at Stamford Bridge suits the Brazilian defender perfectly.
The Chelsea boss added: ‘Thiago Silva is a leader and I spoke to lots of people that have worked with him before he came and everybody said the same thing. He has an absolute commitment to being a winner, to help his team-mates, to improving all the time.”
“The thought taking Chelsea to the top is perhaps an argument for later in the Brazilian defender’s career.”
“For now, Barnsley awaits for Silva – with fans expecting to see a more robust Blues side on Wednesday night.”
During his arrival as one of the marquee signings of PSG back in 2012, the French club was in a similar situation as that of Chelsea’s. The Paris club was ambitious with lots of dreams to achieve.
The thought of taking Chelsea to the summit is perhaps a topic of discussion later in the Brazilian defender’s career.
For now, Barnsley awaits for Silva and the fans are keen to see the UCL finalist making his debut for the London club at Stamford Bridge.
