Chelsea’s defence has been massively improved under Thomas Tuchel, probably his main success story, but the signs of improvements started to come in the moment we signed Thiago Silva.
Never under estimate exactly what his calm nature on the ball and leadership brings to the heart of this team. Him and Edouard Mendy have helped stop a previously leaky defence, as well as Tuchel’s new formation that puts numbers in good positions to keep strong at the back.
Chelsea are keen on signing Raphael Varane this summer, read more here.
But the importance of Silva has been massive, he brings confidence to those around him and you just have a feeling when he plays that we will always be very hard to score against.
But he is 36-years old, and wont be around forever. Whilst we will probably get one more season out of him, Chelsea will soon need another Silva.
The form of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen has been superb, but there are also question marks over the future of Kurt Zouma and whether he will remain happy largely being just a backup player. I fear he will not.
These are two major reasons we should invest.
I hear you say what about Marc Guehi and Ethan Ampadu? Great prospects, especially Guehi, but not proven yet for me at the top level.
If we switch to a back four next season which is likely, then you will lose Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James as centre back options, and that leaves you with three options if Zouma goes, one of them will be 37-years old and at risk of longer term injuries, the other two have always looked less effective in a back four.
So again, those are more reasons to press on with a search for a new centre back, but I think it needs to be one close to the level of experience and calmness as Silva brings, because trust me, when he is not there we will miss him massively.
I would pursue a Raphael Varane or a Marquinhos, with the latter being favourable for me, although deals for either would be very tough to pull off.
But if Chelsea want to be challenging for titles with Manchester City again rather than struggling to get top four, then they need to bring in elite level players if they are to improve the current squad of good players. They don’t need loads, but to the spine of the team I would add 2 or 3 elite players and we can challenge for the title next season.
