1 hour ago, DarkMata said:

Better get this sorted quickly the 14 day quarantine apply's to transfers too.  I'm guessing he'll need a holiday better make it here in the UK.

He could go on holiday somewhere like Italy for two weeks which will counteract the quarantine, and that's assuming he even went back to France.

On a very reasonable 120k a week according to Romano who's been on top of this story from the beginning.

Said post-match yesterday that he still wants to play for three-four years and are highly motivated and want to play for Brazil in Qatar in 2022.

He's looked quality whenever I've seen him play, I thought him and Kimpembe were rock solid last night. I just hope this guy can handle playing in our setup. 

7 minutes ago, Slojo said:

He's looked quality whenever I've seen him play, I thought him and Kimpembe were rock solid last night. I just hope this guy can handle playing in our setup. 

I’m really confident he will make a huge impact, we clearly were desperate for a leader and you don’t get better than Thiago Silva, a proper leader.

If we also sign a decent GK I think our defence will be so much better.

2 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

I’m really confident he will make a huge impact, we clearly were desperate for a leader and you don’t get better than Thiago Silva, a proper leader.

If we also sign a decent GK I think our defence will be so much better.

Even getting Ben Foster or Tim Krul in for the season at this point is a huge upgrade on Kepa. 

44 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Even getting Ben Foster or Tim Krul in for the season at this point is a huge upgrade on Kepa. 

Sad but true.

I was definitely dubious at first, but thinking about it and watching him play last night. I got to admit, I think this is a very shrewd signing. First of all, HE'S FREE! Can't beat a free signing (apart from wages) especially in this climate. A top class CB would have cost us upwards of £70m. Also, he's going to be so beneficial for our younger CBs. Both speak French, so that partnership already makes sense to me. Azpi can also speak French, so 3 out of the back four will be able to communicate efficiently. This is the best CB signing we ever could have got in the market. Thiago Silva may just be, on paper, the 2nd best centre back in the league. That sounds mental I know, but how can you dispute it? 

I've softened my stance as well, he did more than ok in the final yesterday vs Bayern and when you compare how all of our current CBs performed vs Bayern hes way way better even at retirement age !  His leadership at the back will be invaluable, I'd loan out Tomori as he needs it the  most and lets face it eventually one of Rudy, AC , Zouma will be moved on next season or season afterwards so this chap is an ideal stop gap , IF the 120 K a week quoted above for his wages is factual its just under a 13 mill quid outlay for the 2 years (best option financially as well).  

Hopefully second year is a club option

3 hours ago, Ledgerson said:

 

I’m somehow more excited by this than I thought I would be. I think with his age, experience and leadership characteristics he is as good as having a defensive coach brought in as well as still being a top CB. 
 

Brilliant solution for us right now I’m buzzing. I think we will see we actually have good CB’s as far as physical attributes, just f all clue on where to be, when to be there and what to do when they get there. He will improve them greatly I believe.  
 

He’s the Brazilian John Terry chant incoming? 

1 hour ago, SFL82 said:

I’m somehow more excited by this than I thought I would be. I think with his age, experience and leadership characteristics he is as good as having a defensive coach brought in as well as still being a top CB. 
 

Brilliant solution for us right now I’m buzzing. I think we will see we actually have good CB’s as far as physical attributes, just f all clue on where to be, when to be there and what to do when they get there. He will improve them greatly I believe.  
 

He’s the Brazilian John Terry chant incoming? 

Me too, it's weird to be this excited about a 36 year old signing! However, it really is necessary and the market has neither good nor value-for-money options available this summer. I assume we will be making deals for January or next summer, but in the meantime I am hoping Thiago helps steady a rocky, inexperienced ship.

Another point of comfort - when faced with a similar question this time 5 years ago, our answer was Papy Djilibodji...

 

Impressive performance in a CL final against world class players for a 35 year (+11 months) old, if it is to be a 1+1 year deal you have to wonder how well he'll hold up at 37 years old.

He doesn't look any where as slow as JT was though and hopefully will have the JT affect on his CB partner.

Very on the fence about this, not that its my call. Age catches up with  everyone. However we can't rebuild the team in just one window. Good insurance policy for a season I guess.

While I understand the 'stop gap' scenario given the shocking performance of our defensive unit last season, I can't help wonder what happened to the idea of bringing the youngsters through, albeit with some pain attached. If I am a young player believing that I would have broken into the first team squad this season, my hopes would be dashed somewhat seeing a 36year old Silva putting pen to paper.  With all these signings, as good as they are, it seems that the ship has altered course slightly from the idea of bringing the youngsters up form the Academy  to buying a ready made team...and we've seen that over the years.  I hope this signing is not a step in the wrong direction. 

40 minutes ago, CFCCAN said:

While I understand the 'stop gap' scenario given the shocking performance of our defensive unit last season, I can't help wonder what happened to the idea of bringing the youngsters through, albeit with some pain attached. If I am a young player believing that I would have broken into the first team squad this season, my hopes would be dashed somewhat seeing a 36year old Silva putting pen to paper.  With all these signings, as good as they are, it seems that the ship has altered course slightly from the idea of bringing the youngsters up form the Academy  to buying a ready made team...and we've seen that over the years.  I hope this signing is not a step in the wrong direction. 

Chelsea is a team that is pretty much always on win now mode, last season was an exception. We are not Arsenal. If a player is good enough he will play, if not he will play somewhere else until he is good enough, or until he gets sold

1 hour ago, CFCCAN said:

While I understand the 'stop gap' scenario given the shocking performance of our defensive unit last season, I can't help wonder what happened to the idea of bringing the youngsters through, albeit with some pain attached. If I am a young player believing that I would have broken into the first team squad this season, my hopes would be dashed somewhat seeing a 36year old Silva putting pen to paper.  With all these signings, as good as they are, it seems that the ship has altered course slightly from the idea of bringing the youngsters up form the Academy  to buying a ready made team...and we've seen that over the years.  I hope this signing is not a step in the wrong direction. 

Why does it have to be mutually exclusive? Can't we do both? Infact i'd argue an experienced leader like Thiago S who's done and seen it all makes it easier to slot someone like Ampadu (possibly even that Dutch lad) in the team and/or play James over Azpi more often.

Edited August 25, 20205 yr by Argo

9 minutes ago, Argo said:

Why does it have to be mutually exclusive? Can't we do both? Infact i'd argue an experienced leader like Thiago S who's done and seen it all makes it easier to slot someone like Ampadu (possibly even that Dutch lad) in the team and/or play James over Azpi more often.

Or to put it more bluntly - would you rather Ampadu mentored by Antonio Rudiger or Thiago Silva? 

Peer mentoring is a thoroughly underrated part of youth development but is absolutely vital to transition mentally between promising prospect and professional first-teamer. Players don't develop in isolation, they are the product and sum of the players that come before them and are around them.

John Terry tells anyone who would listen that the difference between him being a good player and a great player is what he learned by shadowing Desailly and Leboeuf. 

Edited August 25, 20205 yr by SydneyChelsea

16 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Or to put it more bluntly - would you rather Ampadu mentored by Antonio Rudiger or Thiago Silva? 

Peer mentoring is a thoroughly underrated part of youth development but is absolutely vital to transition mentally between promising prospect and professional first-teamer. Players don't develop in isolation, they are the product and sum of the players that come before them and are around them.

John Terry tells anyone who would listen that the difference between him being a good player and a great player is what he learned by shadowing Desailly and Leboeuf. 

Another example would be the impact Eto'o had on Hazard.

5 hours ago, CFCCAN said:

While I understand the 'stop gap' scenario given the shocking performance of our defensive unit last season, I can't help wonder what happened to the idea of bringing the youngsters through, albeit with some pain attached. If I am a young player believing that I would have broken into the first team squad this season, my hopes would be dashed somewhat seeing a 36year old Silva putting pen to paper.  With all these signings, as good as they are, it seems that the ship has altered course slightly from the idea of bringing the youngsters up form the Academy  to buying a ready made team...and we've seen that over the years.  I hope this signing is not a step in the wrong direction. 

The defence needs urgent attention, especially CB. It's the last position I want to see an inexperience youngster play in right now. I am all for giving youngsters game time, but I also want us to start competing for the top competitions again in the near future, so we need to find a balance. Right now, I feel that putting a young CB in that defence would just slow down our progress.

8 hours ago, CFCCAN said:

While I understand the 'stop gap' scenario given the shocking performance of our defensive unit last season, I can't help wonder what happened to the idea of bringing the youngsters through, albeit with some pain attached. If I am a young player believing that I would have broken into the first team squad this season, my hopes would be dashed somewhat seeing a 36year old Silva putting pen to paper.  With all these signings, as good as they are, it seems that the ship has altered course slightly from the idea of bringing the youngsters up form the Academy  to buying a ready made team...and we've seen that over the years.  I hope this signing is not a step in the wrong direction. 

If i am a centre back at this club, young or experienced, i am excited at the chance of playing with a legendary centre back, and trying to improve my game. If the attitude is to sulk, moan, and not see this a massive opportunity to learn, then they dont have the mentality to make it here anyway. 

Realistically we will probably only get 25-30 league games, plus a champions league run out of thiago, so there will still be opportunities.

 

Thiago Silva, Xavier Mbuyamba and potentially now Malang Sarr - all on free transfers - is a very interesting approach to refreshing the centre back options, with one eye on now and one eye on the future, and both eyes on the bottom line !

4 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Thiago Silva, Xavier Mbuyamba and potentially now Malang Sarr - all on free transfers - is a very interesting approach to refreshing the centre back options, with one eye on now and one eye on the future, and both eyes on the bottom line !

Mbuyamba will almost definitely be getting loaned out but Sarr there's a real possibility he could be part of the 1st team squad. Surely he must be already better than some of what we have now in CB? We will now have too many CB options so surely some of them are going to be sold, and I bet its Zouma and Rudiger that are the first to go.

8 minutes ago, driller97 said:

Mbuyamba will almost definitely be getting loaned out but Sarr there's a real possibility he could be part of the 1st team squad. Surely he must be already better than some of what we have now in CB? We will now have too many CB options so surely some of them are going to be sold, and I bet its Zouma and Rudiger that are the first to go.

Sadly, I also fear for Tomori ... hopefully he will be loaned rather than sold. Hopefully Rudiger and Christensen's availability has been faxed to every club on the planet LOL. Think we will also sell Zouma if we get a decent offer, although he was probably the proverbial one-eyed King in our land of blind centre backs last season ...

Loved the way he cleared those wicked crosses in the CL final. I got persuaded over the last couple of games, think we need that experience and leadership in the back, hell he may even yell at Kepa to come out and get the ball. Compare a free transfer of Silva to 40M on Dunk ( who will get paid just as much), it's a pretty wise call, could seek a replacement next season if he only has 1 year left in him