John Terry’s dream Chelsea signing makes decision over January transfer | Football

Former Chelsea defender Thiago Silva has said his goodbyes at Fluminense and is hoping to hitch a club situated ‘as close as possible to London’.

Silva, widely regarded to be among the many finest centre-backs of his generation, returned to Fluminense from Chelsea as a free agent 18 months ago, 15-and-a-half years after leaving his boyhood team.

The Brazilian departed Stamford Bridge as something of a cult figure amongst the fanbase after helping the club win the Champions League in 2021, in addition to the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.

But while Silva’s current contract with Fluminense shouldn’t be attributable to expire until next summer, there’s a robust likelihood he has played his final match for the Brazilian outfit.

Reports emanating out of Brazil earlier this week claimed Silva had bid farewell to his Fluminense team-mates within the dressing room after the side were denied a spot within the Copa do Brasil final by Vasco da Gama.

Despite turning 41 in September, the veteran centre-half has not given up hope of representing Brazil at next 12 months’s World Cup – and he’s keen to proceed playing at a high level to make sure this happens.

In accordance with Globo Esporte, the space between Silva and his family, who still live in London, has turn into a ‘burden’ that weighs increasingly heavy on the previous PSG and AC Milan star.

Silva’s two sons are currently enrolled in Chelsea’s academy and his ‘idea is to play as close as possible’ to the English capital in an effort to be near his family members again.

The report claims Silva is ‘prioritising teams positioned closer to England or in neighbouring countries’, but ‘nothing is ready in stone’ at this stage and the defender’s future continues to be up within the air.

A return to AC Milan – where Silva won the Serie A title in 2011 – has been mooted as a possibility within the Italian press.

John Terry, meanwhile, has encouraged Chelsea to place their policy of signing young players to 1 side and make an exception with Silva this January.

‘Thiago Silva is out there. Hearken to me, a person with great experience, a person with an awesome relationship with our football club,’ the ex-Chelsea and England captain said in a video on his TikTok page.

‘His two kids are in our academy, little doubt he’s going to be back in London together with his family for Christmas I might like to see this man back at our football club, playing alongside these players.

‘I’m not saying he has to play every week with the experience he can bring playing next to someone like that probably goes back to my role in 2017 under Antonio Conte after we won the league.

‘I didn’t play but I had a job to play throughout the group.

‘Be that buffer between the players the manager, the owners and have that little bit of experience.

‘Sometimes once you’re going through a troublesome spell or once you’re going through an excellent spell as well you realize what to say and what to deliver and he actually brings that as well.

‘Thiago Silva back to Chelsea would make everyone very comfortable, me included.’

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