It wasn’t so long ago that we were talking about Thiago Silva’s Barcelona fixation and the problems that presented for Paris Saint-Germain. The subtext of those thoughts: If you have a player that doesn’t want to be there any more, you’re probably best to move him on, especially when you have somebody like Mamadou Sahko in reserve. Those thoughts, however, spoke from the hypothetical fantasy world embrace when analyzing the implications of transfer rumors.
We can speak in the real world when we have something more tangible: an actual move; a confirmation; or a denial. And today, through a statement released by his representatives, Silva rebutted the notion that he’s entertaining a move to Spain. Via France Football, who picked up Silva’s comments from GloboEsporte in Brazil, Silva said reports he would soon meet with PSG’s president and head coach to discuss a transfer were false, claiming he intended to honor a contract that runs through 2017.
The degree to which Silva means what he says can always been questioned, but at a minimum, this should put a stop to most of the transfer talk. Is he a future Barcelona player, possibly as early as next summer? Who knows. This is soccer, after all. But if Silva did want to force a move to Barcelona this summer, there’s little to be gained by publicly declaring his allegiance to PSG.
The bigger implication from Silva’s comments concerns Barcelona, who are still looking for depth in central defense. Silva was reportedly number one on their list, and assuming they’ll need to move on, Roma’s young Brazilian Marquinhos now seems like their number one target.
With the transfer market starting to light up and almost every club having begun their preseason festivities, it’s becoming time to act. Not only are we seeing foot-dragging cost teams their targets, but we’re seeing others (like Silva) take themselves off the market entirely. The longer this goes, the more scarce the top talents become, and the more likely teams are to miss out on players they want.
If you’re a team that’s willing to pay ridiculously over retail (Torres to Chelsea) or want to look for value in the margin bin (Arteta to Arsenal), go ahead and wait until the deadline. But if you want to both control your own destiny and not spend more money than necessary, stop procrastinating.
