Thiago Silva asked Chelsea to explore Lucas Paqueta signing
By Sean Walsh
Chelsea defender Thiago Silva has revealed he asked the club to look into the possibility of signing Lucas Paqueta prior to the midfielder's move to West Ham United.
The Brazil international was heavily linked with a move away from Lyon over the summer, with Newcastle United one of many sides to show an interest.
But Paqueta instead completed a club-record move to West Ham in the final week of the transfer window, though the Irons were not the only London club to have looked into a deal.
Silva has admitted that he spoke to he Chelsea hierarchy about pursuing Paqueta, but admitted he was not sure whether his countryman was even going to leave Lyon and that the Blues had other priorities in the market.
"I heard he was about to leave Lyon [so I] had some conversations here with some people, but unfortunately things didn’t work out," he told ESPN Brazil.
"We weren’t 100% sure he would leave Lyon.
"The last week arrived, this thing got a lot [clearer] and we had some other priorities because of the injuries we have in the team. So we needed a striker, another defender. A midfielder, was a little less. I think that’s why things didn’t evolve well.
"But I’m happy for Paqueta because West Ham certainly have a very good structure, it’s a great club in the Premier League scene."
Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey, Toby Cudworth and Harry Symeou bring you a live deadline day edition of Talking Transfers. The team welcome Daniel Childs and Julien Laurens to the show to discuss Chelsea's late window activity, Arsenal's pursuit of Douglas Luiz, Paris Saint-Germain's summer signings & much more! The show is also available on all audio platforms.
Chelsea ironically face West Ham at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, prompting Silva to add: "I just hope he can be sad on Saturday. After that he can stay happy and get to the World Cup the way he knows, the way he’s been doing, which is playing good football."
Paqueta made his West Ham debut from the bench against Tottenham on Wednesday night, spurning a late chance to win the derby after getting in a mix-up with former Chelsea left-back Emerson Palmieri.