Garth Crooks has complimented Marina Granovskaia for bringing Thiago Silva to Chelsea.
Silva made Crooks’ BBC Team of the Week, following the Brazilian’s brilliant display away at Burnley on Saturday.
The defender didn’t have too much to do at Turf Moor on the weekend, but when his services were called upon, he did so in a typically professional fashion.
Silva keeps the Clarets at bay
Easily the standout moment of the centre-back’s display was the goal preventing clearance he made in the first half that denied Burnley taking a surprising lead.
Sean Dyches men conjured a few more chances in the opening period, yet arguably none came as close.
Thanks to Silva’s intervention, Chelsea were able to build momentum after the break and smothered their hosts by scoring four times un-replied via the boots of Reece James, Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic.
However, the contest could’ve been entirely different had it not been for their veteran leader in defence.
“Aaron Lennon had done brilliantly to get to the byline and pull the ball back for Wout Weghorst but the Burnley centre-forward’s shot was kicked off the line by Thiago Silva,” wrote Crooks.
“The defender’s positioning on the goalline was absolutely perfect. Not only did he save Edouard Mendy, who looked like he had been caught out of position, but he enabled Chelsea to keep a clean sheet.
“Whoever’s idea it was to bring Silva to Chelsea is a genius. The man is 37 years of age and looks like he could play in the Premier League until he’s 40.”
Marvelous Marina
That masterstroke surely goes to Granovskaia, the woman credited for overseeing a majority of Chelsea’s transfers in the past few seasons.
She was certainly at the helm during the spending splurge of 2020, where Frank Lampard – desired or not – acquired six new faces in his squad.
This included the Bundesliga arrivals of Havertz and Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech from Ajax, the former Leicester City left-back Ben Chilwell and Mendy from Rennes.
Out of the half a dozen, it’s probably a toss-up between Chelsea’s number one goalkeeper and Silva for the best signing of the lot.
Both have demonstrated consistency of the highest order pretty much from the get-go.
Thomas Tuchel’s defensive record wouldn’t be the same without the pair protecting the goal.
Once again, thank you Marina for making the magic happen.
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