Thiago Silva has discussed potential contract negotiations and his emotional return to San Siro ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League group stage fixture away at AC Milan.
The Brazilian defender extended his contract to keep him with the Blues for the 2022/23 season, but insisted he is not thinking too hard about his future just yet.
Head coach Graham Potter is clearly a big fan, describing Thiago Silva as 'an incredible person and an incredible player' in his own pre-match press conference, although the man himself believes there is plenty of time left before he needs to worry about renewing his deal for another year at Stamford Bridge.
‘It is not the right time to talk about new contracts. For me, what is important is to continue playing at a high level and achieve the best results,' he said.
'There will come a time when we need to talk, that could be before the World Cup or after. I have to consider my family arrangements. I will have to decide what to do as this is an important decision. We will see what will happen.’
However, the centre-back was much more forthcoming when asked by the Italian media about his emotions on his return to San Siro, where he spent three of the most important years of his career and won the Serie A title in 2011.
Now returning to his former home to face his old club over a decade later, Thiago Silva admits it will be a big occasion, not just for him but his family too.
‘I’m very happy and excited to be here again 11 years since my last time and of course all the nice experiences I’ve had here come back to my mind. So of course I’m very excited and tomorrow night I will be even more excited and moved.
‘I can tell you that I will have to be mentally strong and focused on the game because of course there’s going to be great emotion.
‘My wife was very moved when we played against AC Milan in London so for sure tomorrow night my wife will cry from the emotions, but I hope that in the end we will be able to laugh together after a good win, that is the most important thing.’
Thiago Silva also ran the rule over our opponents, expecting a tough game and being left in no doubt that this tie in Italy will be far tougher prospect than our 3-0 home win over AC Milan last week.
I’ve seen AC Milan playing better and better,’ he explained. ‘They had a bad game last week against us, that can happen, but great clubs like AC Milan won’t make a mistake like that twice. You can see the great result they had against Juventus in their last game.
‘So I am sure they are strongly motivated to have another great match tomorrow. I can tell myself and my team that we need to really work hard, because it’s never going to be easy to play here at San Siro and against AC Milan.’
The 38-year-old continued by pointing out two areas that will make the game especially tough for the Blues, picking out former Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori, who has impressed him since moving to Italy, and the strong threat carried by their attack, highlighting Rafael Leao and Olivier Giroud in particular.
‘For sure Tomori because I’ve met him and played with him for months before he decided to join Milan. I knew it wouldn’t have been easy for him when you change the country and change the culture. He has actually proven himself to be very good because he has really consolidated his ability and skills. I always say that for a defender the best football school you can have is here in Italy. I’m very happy for him because I see him as a very developed and grown-up player.
‘The AC Milan attack is very impressive, the way they perform, so tomorrow is going to be a very difficult match. It is going to be very difficult for us to defend. We have to be very focused and not let Leao get the ball. It’s not easy if he gets the ball, he can score, but it’s not only him because Giroud is in the box.
‘So it’s a very challenging attack to play against, it’s not going to be. We need to really be focused. I think Leao is one of the best players in their side now, but we have to be careful of the whole squad because a good team is not only one, two or three good players.’