Thiago Silva targets playing until the big 4-0

A little over two years ago, Thiago Silva arrived on a free transfer as a temporary stopgap in Chelsea’s scheduled defensive rebuild, ready to close out his legendary career with one last major hurrah before retiring to the Brazilian league or some nice tropical beach somewhere.

But as we know, things in football don’t always turn out the way we might imagine they might ... though sometimes, they turn out better than ever expected.

Thiago Silva has been an absolute monster for us — still living up to his nickname every day even at his advancing age — and not only has he gotten us to the rebuild (a year later than scheduled and by way of a Champions League title), he’s helped us through it and seems set for a major role under new head coach Graham Potter as well.

All along, Silva had been targeting a place in the Brazil squad for the 2022 World Cup, of which he looks assured, and he had previously also talked about playing until his 40s, which remains a target as well.

“It’s very important for me that I can play on this level at this age but it’s not easy, especially in the Premier League. When I finish training, I come back home and think about how I can repair myself for tomorrow.

“The intensity is high from the first minute to the last one so you have to be ready all the time. I might be 38 years old but I think I can help this team as much as possible.

“[My] aim is to play until I’m 40 years old but I don’t know if it will be this level or this competition. It depends on this season and we’ll see what will happen in the World Cup. It also depends on a contract extension but yeah, my aim is to play until I’m 40.”

-Thiago Silva; source: Chelsea FC

Silva turned 38 yesterday. If he is to celebrate 39 with us, he would need to sign another contract extension. The way he’s going however, we might as well buy the birthday balloons now.