‘In my prime’… Ian Wright says he would relish playing against £110k-a-week Chelsea star

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Arsenal legend Ian Wright thinks he would have got the better of one Chelsea player in his prime.

Thiago Silva is one of the best central defenders in football, but at 39 years of age, the Brazilian does not possess the pace he once had.

And Ian Wright, speaking on Sky Sports before Chelsea‘s game against Newcastle United, said he would have loved to face this version of Silva.

The centre-back was left out of the team for the match versus Eddie Howe’s side and his Chelsea career now looks to be coming to an end.

His contract expires in the summer and no new deal has been proposed yet. If Silva does leave Stamford Bridge, he will be missed by Malo Gusto, who has said it is a pleasure playing alongside the former Paris Saint-Germain captain.

Ian Wright fancies himself against Thiago Silva

Wright has suggested that he would cause a 39-year-old Silva problems in his prime.

Discussing Silva and Chelsea’s back four, the former Arsenal striker said: “Even with these guys, depending on who you’ve got feeding you — they’ve got [Bruno] Guimaraes — I’d want to stay in amongst these guys because they’ve not really played together.

[Trevoh] Chalobah’s literally just come back into the side after I don’t know how many games, [Axel] Disasi’s been playing right-back, I think Gusto’s been very good for them, [Marc] Cucurella’s come back in. Yeah, you say the pace is there, but the organisation is the problem that they’re going to have, moving them about. Obviously, I’d want to play against Thiago Silva at his age, especially if I was in my prime as well.”

Thiago Silva now a bench player for Chelsea

Silva has been such an influential figure for Chelsea since joining the club from PSG on a £110,000-a-week contract (Spotrac) back in 2020.

He made 35 appearances for the Blues in all competitions last season and helped them to win the Champions League in 2021.

However, with Chalobah, who has just come back from injury, now getting starts ahead of him, it looks like Silva will have a sub role between now and May before possibly leaving Stamford Bridge on a free transfer.

Whatever happens, Silva has been a great signing for the club, costing them nothing.