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Year after year, it becomes harder and harder for footballers in Brazil to build strong ties with their clubs, as they tend to move to Europe much sooner than ever before. Luckily for Fluminense fans (who include yours truly) that is not the case for current Chelsea defender Thiago Silva, whose amazing career started as a youth player at Flu, and also restarted at the club in 2006 after his serious bout with tuberculosis while making his first foray into Europe.
Thiago’s second attempt at moving to Europe three years later was much more successful, and ever since then, it’s been the dream for the Fluminense faithful to see the legendary defender back at Laranjeiras. Even current interim head coach, and former Flu player himself, Marcão cannot help but dream of such a possibility.
“At the time, he saw my message and said ‘I’m coming to assist you.’ I answered ‘Well! Not as an assistant, come here to play for us, to help us, you will be very welcomed!’
“[...] God willing, he will be here with us, helping us on the pitch.”
-Marcão; Source: Globo Esporte
The homecoming will have to wait. The 36-year-old’s immediate plans are to make his mark on the Premier League — a level much higher than anything Brazilian club football can provide — at least as long as it takes to be a part of Brazil’s 2022 World Cup squad. His current Chelsea contract is technically only for this season, but it does have a built-in option for a one-year extension and there’s little reason to think that won’t be activated.
“I came to the Premier League to maintain myself at a high level, to have the opportunity of playing in the next World Cup. We do not know what will happen tomorrow, but I am preparing myself, we will see how it goes. And after the World Cup, why not return to Fluminense...?
“I am not promising anything, but it is an idea I have to end a cycle in football where I had one of my biggest joys [in my career].”
-Thiago Silva; source: ESPN Brasil
Thiago still has a lot to offer at the highest levels of football, and it would surely be a waste of his talents to not test himself against the best of the best week in and week out as long as he’s capable.
But we can wait.