Thiago Silva is 38 and still going strong.
The defender remains one the best players in the Premier League despite now being one of the oldest, and every week we’re left marvelling at how good he is, even at his age.
The Premier League drugs testers have clearly been wondering the same thing. After the first game of this season – a narrow 1-0 win over Everton, Silva was called in for the standard “random” post match drugs test.
He was excellent in that game – but not so good we suspected him of cheating.
The investigation went on for so long that he actually ended up missing his flight back to London – and had to be driven instead, as we were informed by his Instagram story after the game.
The results were negative, so we can safely say he hasn’t found winstrol for sale online.
Silva’s success and longevity are a product of hard work and commitment to his craft. He would insulted by the very idea of taking shortcuts.
His job has become significantly more difficult this season since the arrival of Graham Potter. The new coach is much more prone to using him in a back 4, rather than in the middle of a back 3 where he’s looked so good for us.
The shape certainly does expose Silva a lot more, and neither he nor a centre back of any age and fitness are going to look as assured when they only have one partner to cover for them rather than two.
But despite being more exposed than ever, the Brazil star is still shining, and week after week has strikers half his age comfortably in his pocket.
The question will be how he deals with the World Cup. As well as being a rock for Chelsea, he’s a titan for Brazil, and he will face a punishing next few months if the Selecao go as far as predicted in Qatar. As much as Neymar is an icon in Brazil, Silva is the talisman at the back, and they can’t afford to miss him even for a game – as we saw in 2014.
Fresh off a packed schedule with Chelsea, he will have to go the distance with his country – which could involve playing 7 games if Brazil reach the final. Right after that, it will be back to action in the Premier League too.
Silva is still a key man for us – and according to him, he’s got no plans of stopping anytime soon.