SILVA IS OUR GOLDEN BOY

Lampard: Thiago can be as vital to Blues as Kompany was to Manchester City

FRANK LAMPARD has challenged Thiago Silva to have a similar impact on Chelsea’s defence to Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool and Vincent Kompany at Manchester City.

Silva, snapped up on a free from Pari s S aint-germain rmain in the summer, led the French club to a joint-record seven even Ligue 1 titles. So far this s season, he has helped Chelsea elsea to six clean sheets in their last seven to mark them em down as contenders both domestically and in Europe.

Lampard (right) t) said: “I think, with the career he’s had, Thiago certainly is in the bracket of top centre-backs, -backs, like Kompany and nd

Van Dijk.

“Most recent, , modern-day y teams that have achieved, have individuals or pairings airings d efensiv ely that at set those kinds s of standards. I think nk it’s imperative we know the importance of defending well to try and win trophies, particularly the Premier League title.

“They do also need support around them, behind them, and in front of them. But when you look at Thiago’s performances in his early few games, with the impact I keep talking about him having, he can be a big deal for us.

“We still need a l ot more though. I don’t want to crown him as that now. now.”

Lampard admitted to being surprised that PSG were willing to let Silva, 36, leave for free and paid tribute to the backing he has had from Chelsea

Thiago Silva can be a Chelsea giant says boss Frank Lampard chief negotiator Marina Granovskaia in his bid to land him.

He added: “When Thiago became available, it was something that really excited me. And it was something that the club moved very swiftly on. It felt like good work at the time and now Thiago is showing it with his performances on the pitch.

“When I talk about the owner of the club, I also talk about Marina and about Petr Cech, in term terms of the support I’ve had.

““We’ve had a good run up at this this. People think that we made a lot of business in five minutes. In the first year as a manager here, we couldn’t bring players in.

““So we had a long-term view of loo looking at last year, where we felt we could strengthen and it was ver very joined up. I certainly had an inp input I was very happy with, in term terms of the type of players that we brought into the squad.

“A lot of people should take cre credit in terms of what we brought in. Now we’ve seen some great sign signs recently where players are sta starting to bed in and be fit.”

‘Wwhen Thiago became available a I was excited and a now Thiago is showing s it on the pitch’