A statistical analysis of potential new Chelsea centre back Thiago Silva compared to the best centre backs in the world.
A THREAD

Stats sourced from: FBref
Stats are from the 19/20 season in domestic leagues, except for Chiellini who only played 200 mins due to injury, his coming from 18/19.

Players Analysed:
1. Silva
2. Ramos
3. Varane
4. Pique
5. Gimenez
6. Alaba
7. de Ligt
8. Bonucci
9. Chiellini (18/19)
10. Koulibaly
11. Skriniar
12. de Vrij
13. Romagnoli
14. Laporte
15. Van Dijk
16. Maguire
17. Alderweireld
18. Zouma

In this thread similar to the Ben Chilwell one, I’ll only be focusing on Thiago Silva, outside the transfer window I might do a few who is the best in the world in said position threads, but for now I’ll be only focusing on Silva.

So we all know how good Thiago Silva is but the aim of this thread is to prove he is still a world class centre back & not past it. Many ppl compare his potential signing to United’s of Laurent Blanc which I find humour out as Blanc was a sweeper and was asked to play in a back 4

We will start off looking at a modern requirement for a Centre Back, playing the ball out of the back. In this area Thiago Silva is in the top 3 of the players selected. He has a superb passing range, which is a requirement in Lampard’s system to be a centre back.

Continuing to look at other metrics to review his passing ability, he is superb at playing passes over 25 yards & does play a lot of passes into the final third & is once again the 3rd best of the selected CBs. So we can confidently say Silva is still a world class passer.

Silva is unsurprisingly good at his 1v1 defending, when dribbled at he is victorious more than anyone else in this set of CBs. He also boasts quite a good tackling success %. This is very good to see as he no longer would possess the recovery speed to win the ball back if beaten.

Onto reading the game, analysed through blocks and interceptions, Thiago Silva is still boasting very good numbers in comparisons to other world class centre backs. Making his fair share of blocks and interceptions.

Silva slumps in clearances and pressures, but looking at his numbers they aren’t actually too bad. As well this isn’t a massive part of a centre back’s game, and like I said the numbers themselves are actually good.

Ending with something Chelsea have struggles with, Thiago Silva isn’t the best in the air compared to other centre backs, but his most likely partner at Chelsea, Kurt Zouma is extremely good and Silva still wins 3 of every 5 aerial duels.

Overall my analysis of Silva does suggest he is still one of the best centre backs in the world. He does lack the pace to keep up with fast forwards, but he would be paired with a very fast centre back at Chelsea such as Tomori, or Zouma. As well he is dribbled past a lot which

helps him not get into situations where he would be beaten for pace. Aerially his issues would be covered up with players like Zouma, Chilwell and Reece who are all very good aerially, and even Silva is no mug in the air. As well a better keeper would not concede as much as Kepa.

To end Thiago Silva is still one of the best centre backs in the world and on a free transfer with wages I’d assume 200-300k per week, on a two year contract we could be getting exactly what we need. Thiago Silva is a True leader and plays with a desire and determination to win.

With Azpi likely to have a reduced role next season we are signing a captain who could take his place. What especially encourages me is his good 1v1 defending as this would very much help cover his lack of pace. If Silva comes to Chelsea he would also be looking for 3 domestic

Titles in 3 different countries and by the sounds of it, he isn’t given up and wants to keep winning and Play-off at the highest level.

Verdict: sign him up, stopgap signing who brings leadership and would help the development of Ampadu, Tomori and Mbuyamba.

Thanks for Reading this Thread if you have. There will be a Kai Havertz one coming soon, but I wanted to do this one myself. RTs are appreaciated, thx for the reviews, plz do reply ur thoughts on what was discussed in this thread I’ll try to reply to them all, END OF THREAD