Carlo Ancelotti has given Everton hope of Premier League success – can the Italian lure Thiago Silva to Goodison Park from Ligue 1 giants PSG?
With Carlo Ancelotti patrolling the Goodison Park touchline, his expressive eyebrow raised to the Merseyside sun, anything and everything feels possible at Everton these days.
Even the prospect of signing genuine elite-level performers like Gigi Donnarumma, Andrea Belotti and, yes, Thiago Silva, feel eminently possible these days. It’s funny what the arrival of a 60-something Italian can do to the mindset of an entire fanbase.
According to Sportal, Ancelotti would love to reunite with an evergreen centre-back who won the Ligue 1 title alongside him at Paris Saint-Germain all the way back in 2013.
Thiago Silva is out of contract this summer and, even at 35, the former Brazil captain still has the awareness, talent and leadership skills to stroll into Everton’s starting XI.
To suggest that Silva could be The Toffees’ answer to Virgil van Dijk might be a little much but it’s easy to see what a defender who has lifted 25 trophies for club and country would bring to Goodison Park.
“When Thiago gets onto the pitch, he controls the defence with his great personality and character. He is the boss of the defence,” a gushing Ancelotti wrote in his 2015 book My Coaching Secrets.
“Thiago is a leader, technically capable of doing extraordinary things in the two phases of the game. With him, things at the back are simple and efficient.
“His speed, his great ability to recover the ball, the way he reads the game, all combined with an extraordinary leap in aerial duels makes him one of the best defenders in the world.”
Silva might have lost a yard or two of that famous pace in recent years but you’d still struggle to find a more reliable defender in the game than him.
With 30 games in all competitions under his belt this season for Ligue 1 leaders PSG, Silva clearly has plenty of miles left on the clock, too.
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