Insider reveals Chelsea double defender exit on cards as star’s next club admits constant contact made

Transfer insider Ben Jacobs has admitted Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah are likely to leave, and Fluminense’s president has admitted he talks to the former often.

The Blues currently have eight senior centre-backs at their disposal. Five of those have been utilised this season, with 39-year-old Silva one of the most heavily utilised.

He’s played over 2300 minutes this season – his fourth with the club after joining from Paris Saint-Germain.

He does not play like a man who is about to turn 40, and is largely at the same level as he was when he helped Chelsea to the Champions League title in his first campaign.

But his age and the amount of other options the Blues have got could contribute to his exit. Silva signed a one-year contract extension at the end of last season, having been due to leave that summer.

That means he’s supposed to be heading out of the door in a few months’ time, but on this occasion, it’s been stated he’s not going to be offered new terms, so it’s actually going to happen.

Transfer insider Jacobs has now suggested that the defender is likely to move.

He could be joined in heading out the door by another Chelsea centre-back.

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Silva, Chalobah likely to leave

“We have known for a while that Thiago Silva is expected to leave at the end of the season very amicably. He is a Chelsea legend but, nonetheless, there has been no movement towards extending his contract by another year,” Jacobs told GIVEMESPORT.

“Given Chelsea’s youth-led project, it is unlikely that anything is going to be finalised now. The expectation is that Silva and Chelsea, at least in a playing capacity, will go their separate ways at the end of the season.

“Chelsea will want a centre-back because Trevoh Chalobah could also be sold this summer.”

Indeed, Chalobah has frequently been linked with the exit, not least because as an academy player, his sale – which could be for a decent fee given he’s contracted until 2028 – would count as pure profit on the books.

He has also only played three Premier League games this season, but that’s largely due to injury, so it’s unclear how much he’d have features otherwise.

Silva ‘wants to play for Fluminense’

On Silva’s departure, it looks likely that it’s going to be to Fluminense.

The club’s president, Mario Bittencourt, has backed up recent claims that he’s in constant contact with the defender, and suggests the Brazilian wants to go there once he leaves Chelsea.

“I’m very good friends with Thiago, I talk to him about a lot of things and not just about coming to Fluminense,” Bittencourt told Globo Esporte

“We don’t have anything at the moment, but we’re very keen for him to come home. From what we’ve heard, his contract with Chelsea runs out in the middle of the year and he won’t renew it.

“I think that, in Brazil, he wants to play for Fluminense. As soon as he’s cleared at Chelsea, we’ll get back to him. And he’ll help us in this important year.”

If Silva is to leave Chelsea at the end of the season, it’ll be his choice where he goes, and that it’s believed he wants to return to Fluminense – where he played in the infancy of his career – it would seem unlikely if that were not to happen.

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