Thiago Silva admits he was keen to see fellow Brazilian Lucas Paqueta join Chelsea before his club-record £51 million move to Premier League and London rivals West Ham United, speaking to ESPN Brazil.
During a run of one win in four league games – including damaging defeats away to Leeds United and Southampton – Thomas Tuchel’s side have looked in desperate need of a knot-picking attacking midfielder with a surgeon’s scalpel of a through ball in his locker.
Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech are a shadow of their brilliant best. Kai Havertz too.
And Chelsea, should their malaise continue, may wish they’d listened a little closer to their veteran defender, Thiago Silva trying in vein to alert the two-time European Champions to Lucas Paqueta’s availability.
Lucas Paqueta joins West Ham United from Lyon
“I didn’t talk to Paqueta about his coming here. (But) I heard that he was about to leave Lyon and I had some conversations here with some people,” explains the former AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain centre-back.
“Unfortunately, things didn’t work out. We weren’t 100 per cent sure he would leave Lyon. In the last week (of the window, the rumours) got stronger, but we had other priorities. We needed a striker and a defender, but less of a midfielder. That’s why things didn’t evolve (with Paqueta).”
Paqueta, a Rio-born 25-year-old, feels every inch like the big-name, marquee signing West Ham have spent much of the last 12 months chasing; missing out on Matheus Nunes, Raphinha, Kalvin Phillips, Darwin Nunez and co.
“I’m happy for Paqueta,” Silva adds. “West Ham have a very good structure. It’s a great club in the Premier League scene. I just hope that he will be sad on Saturday; that later he can be happy and that he can arrive at the World Cup playing good football.”
Chelsea, as Thiago Silva alludes to, host West Ham United in Saturday’s London derby at Stamford Bridge. It remains to be seen whether Paqueta will be handed his full debut by David Moyes.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
