Thiago Silva suffers knee ligament injury, not coming back anytime soon

Initial reports about Thiago Silva’s injury were fairly optimistic, expecting him to miss at least a week, but not much longer than that.

But scans on the 38-year-old’s knee have confirmed some ligament damage, and while he seems to have avoided the dreaded ACL, his return probably won’t be anytime soon.

Chelsea’s official confirmation of the injury doesn’t specify which ligament was affected, but thankfully do not mention anything about a surgery, talking only about a rehabilitation programme.

The Telegraph’s Matt Law is putting a nice spin on this, saying it won’t be “months” (plural), but the Evening Standard’s Nizaar Kinsella is claiming an exclusive with a report of an MCL injury, which is expected to rule out the defender for up to six weeks. The MCL (“medial collateral ligament”) is the one that runs on the inside of your knee, and injury to that makes sense in this case, given how it happened. Depending on its severity, recovery can be anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months.

We have plenty of numbers to cover Silva’s absence, but his consistent excellence will be harder to replace. A six-week absence would mean a mid-April return — just in time for our relegation fight amid a tough schedule (Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle United four of the last eight games of the season).

Get well soon, O Monstro!