London is Blue Dispatch #043

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While heartfelt tributes continuing to pour in after Thiago Silva’s farewell message, the sombre mood inside the fanbase has perplexed quite a few outside it. “He’s almost 40,” texted a friend, a Liverpool fan. “He has no legs to defend outside the box.”

“The height of the defensive line was lower with him in the backline,” added another. “He’s hindering the press & transition defence.” Despite sound rationale, the Brazilian’s departure has evoked, instead of relief or optimism for the future, a profound, poignant sadness as the overriding emotion.

Why the gloom, then, at the departure of a player well past his prime? Everyone knew a difficult parting was nearing, and yet a heart-wrenching four-minute video marked a step closer to the near extinction of the Champions League starting XI vs Manchester City. The third and last remaining member of that famous group hug after Emerson Palmieri’s quarterfinal sealing goal in that campaign, will now consign another vivid memory to shades of monochrome.

That last triumph, and every moment that led to its surreal realization is a memory many have clung on to for dear life in the seasons of debilitating chaos following it. With Silva leaving, that memory will grow hazier still, appearing even further out of reach in the future.

There is also immense gratitude for his decision to come to Chelsea in the first place. After a strong display in the Champions League final against Bayern, there were no shortage of suitors for his experience and leadership. Yet he traded the guaranteed returns from a frontline of Di Maria, Neymar and Mbappe for a rookie quartet of Tammy Abraham (22), Callum Hudson-Odoi (19), Mason Mount (21) and Kai Havertz (21) in his debut game. A more stable project was a right he had earned, and yet at 35, he chose to believe in a manager in just his second full season as a PL coach, and in a team built out of academy graduates and misfits from eras past.

During his time at the club, Chelsea endured a record-breaking 97 injuries from the start of the 21/22 season to Jan 23, numbers that no other club in Europe matched. This season, up until a week ago, the club’s players had lost 1,443 days through injury in this season alone. It is a small miracle that in his four years at Chelsea Silva has only missed 29 games. For context, Nkunku has missed 38 this season alone.

This is a player who bought a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for his house and partnered with Finnish Recovery Technology brand CTN to ensure enhanced recovery. His UEFA B license will almost certainly be completed even before he has hung up his boots. Much like his approach on the field, Silva anticipates a problem before it even arises.

It is a testament to his resilience, durability and most of all, his exemplary professionalism that he has featured in the top 5 for minutes in three of his four years at the club, playing 2000+ minutes in each of the last three campaigns. This is even more remarkable considering Chelsea spent 200m+ signing 3 new CBs and nurturing Levi Colwill to a senior role, but the 6^th choice CB has been a mainstay, even when the rest have been available.

This is also perhaps an unconscious realization that with the club’s radical transfer strategy and the finishes in the league table than a player of Silva’s monumental standing and prestige could be a fever dream for the near future. Multiple reports stated that Silva was key in a galvanizing half-time talk that inspired a fightback from 2-0 down against Villa. Counting Raheem Sterling, also linked persistently with an exit, Silva is also the only player in the current squad to have captained his national team at senior level.

The prospect of a side lacking experience and leadership losing almost all of the little it has left, is not a comforting thought. This feels akin to when many of Chelsea’s titans from its age of dominance slowly walked into the sunset, leaving gaping holes of uncertainty. It is no surprise then that O Monstro’s exit has tones of grief and mourning – money and time have not replaced a Drogba, a Lampard, a Terry. Silva might just be, the last of his kind.