Caughtoffside’s Daily Briefing with Fabrizio Romano always has some good Chelsea content in there, and today the Italian insider deals with our defensive department.
The word on the street has been that Thiago Silva will leave the club at the end of the season. This seems to come from more of a general sense that he’s reached the end of the road than from anything specific. He’s hinting at it, the fans are starting to get frustrated by him, and other options are available.
But Romano insists that no decision has been made on the Brazilian’s future – yet. And he also denies that the interest in Alessandro Bastoni is concrete:
“One player with an uncertain future is Thiago Silva – we know he’s heading towards the end of his contract, currently making him a free agent in summer 2024, and there are some reports that he could move back to Brazil with Fluminense at the end of this season,” Romano wrote.
“Still, my understanding is that Silva has not decided anything at this stage and no decision will be made now. It will be up to the player, and he will decide in 2024. In my opinion Thiago is still a fantastic defender but for him and Chelsea to continue together they need to be 100% convinced on both player and club side.
“If Silva were to leave Chelsea, could they sign a replacement? There’s nothing concrete on that for now as Silva’s future hasn’t been decided anyway, so I’d say recent rumours linking the Blues with Alessandro Bastoni are quite premature. I’m not aware of any contact with the Inter defender, though of course it’s easy to mention “interest” for one of the most talented left footed centre-backs in Europe.
“Bastoni recently signed new deal at Inter, and as far as I’m aware there’s nothing else happening at this stage.”
That’s in line with what we thought, frankly. Bastoni seems a big leap for us, even if Silva’s future had been decided. We can even see Silva being signed up for another year and simply used as a backup and a reference in the dressing room, if he’s up for it.
