Thomas Tuchel has admitted that Thiago Silva is likely to leave Paris Saint-Germain at the end of August with the reported Arsenal and Everton target due to become a free agent, speaking to BeIN Sports.
While there have been some suggestions recently that a long-serving legend could perform a dramatic U-turn and sign a new contract with the Ligue 1 champions, Silva appeared to put pay to such a notion on Tuesday night.
With a microphone in hand, the veteran Brazilian addressed the 5,000 supporters in attendance at the Parc des Princes after a 4-0 friendly thrashing of Celtic, and seemed to say goodbye following eight trophy-laden years in the French capital.
90Min reported in June that Silva could be set for a move across the Channel later this summer with Arsenal, Everton, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Newcastle and West Ham United keen on an evergreen 35-year-old.
And Tuchel’s comments will give fresh hope to a number of Premier League clubs keen to sign one of the finest and most successful centre-halves of the 21st century.
“He’s our player, he’s our captain, and we need to talk about (his future) after the Champions League,” the former Borussia Dortmund coach says.
“It looks like he’s going to leave, but in football, you never know.”
The Sun reported a month ago that Jose Mourinho, a coach who lives for the here and now and appears to care little for long-term plans, would jump at the chance to sign a 35-year-old for Tottenham Hotspur this summer.
But his wages could scupper a move to north London, in an era where Spurs are footing a giant bill for their space-age new stadium.
Like Arsenal in the early Emirates days, could a change of home force Tottenham to miss out on some of the finest footballers in the game?
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