The new Blues boss needs to plan his team around a young core, but the Brazilian veteran still has a key role to play.
Auricio Pochettino is facing a massive resolution related to Thiago Silva’s long career at Chelsea.
Silva turns 39 in September and it is not yet clear if the Brazilian defender will be present at the start of Pochettino’s rebuild next season.
He signed a one-year contract extension in February, which runs until the end of next season, but has been connected with a return to Brazil and a move to Saudi Arabia. Pochettino needs to build a team around a core of young players when he nevertheless takes over at the club.
Silva is not compatible with the profile of this plan but has been a Chelsea player this season. He is also one of the few leaders of the team, and his delight has played a key role in the dressing room since he arrived in 2020 in a loose play of Paris Saint-Germain.
Having leaders will be for Pochettino, who wants to bring together a young team that has fractured this season. Captain César Azpilicueta could also leave, after the signing of Lyon right-back Malo Gusto, and wasting the influence of him and Silva would leave a huge hole in the team.
Imminent decision: Mauricio Pochettino will have to decide whether to keep Thiago Silva at Chelsea
Silva is also a fan favourite, and all that leaves Pochettino with a primary as he rebuilds Chelsea’s defence for next season. The Argentine basically favors a 4-2-3-1 system, but will inherit a team designed to play with a three-man defender.
No European football means fewer chances of rotation and Chelsea have six centre-backs in their squad, with Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile and Trevoh Chalobah joining Levi Colwill on his loan return at Brighton.
Colwill seems to have a chance to shine next season and neither Badiashile nor Fofana will be sold after signing long-term contracts following significant moves this season. Chelsea hope to sell Koulibaly to an Italian side less than a year after signing him, but foreign clubs are reluctant to pay his higher salaries and the player himself must stay to perform.
Having leaders will be very important for Pochettino, who must assemble a young team that has fractured this season.
That leaves Silva and Chalobah, who are expected to start against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday night, facing a dubious future. Silva said he would not push to leave, saying last week: “I probably wouldn’t stay here if Chelsea don’t need me for next season, or if the new manager doesn’t need me to stay. “
Ahead of the game against Manchester United, Chelsea caretaker manager Frank Lampard described Silva as a “special” player with a huge influence within the club.
“Thiago is an inspiration to all players,” Lampard told Standard Sport. His teammates, that’s something that has to be spread more through the minute.
“He leads by example. I think the players who play with him what is the point and what is required.
“If you don’t succeed in them, get the look or a conversation, but it’s not a whiner or a crybaby. He’s actually someone who demands other people around him, and that’s smart because, at this level, you want players like that.
“They’re not everywhere, those players who can say, ‘This is what I’ve done in my career, so I can still do it. ‘I like that aspect of him. It was special.
Lampard will become a sounding board for Pochettino when the Argentine embarks on a mass elimination of players this summer. Silva wouldn’t be a long-term solution, but his experience and leadership mean he really does have a key. role to play in helping to shape the next generation of Chelsea’s defence.
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