Thiago Silva was two weeks from death aged 21 and his wife saved his football career – now he’s joining Chelsea at 35
Thiago Silva is set to join Chelsea aged 35, but his career, and indeed his life, so nearly ended aged 21.
The Brazil veteran, who has captained his country and PSG for much of the last decade, is expected to be announced as a Blues player on Thursday.
Silva left PSG as a free agent after the Champions League final defeat to Bayern Munich and is on the verge of signing a one-year deal at Stamford Bridge, with the option of a one-year extension.
He continues to be one of the best defenders of his generation and will bring some much-needed authority to the Blues' leaky defence.
However, having been diagnosed with tuberculosis in 2005, Silva was just two weeks from death, and his wife was forced to save his football career.
What happened to Silva at Dynamo Moscow?
Silva left Porto in January 2005 to join Russian club Dynamo Moscow for a fee of around £3.5m.
Most recruits arrived without proper medical checks, and club doctors were soon surprised at his lack of stamina.
Not before long, Silva developed some very serious symptoms, including a high temperature, fits of coughing and cold sweats.
It transpired that the Brazilian had been suffering from tuberculosis for six months.
And doctors claimed that if the discovery had been made two weeks later, Silva would've died.
"In 2005 I was sent out on loan to Dynamo Moscow, but the city was horrible, I was cold and got ill,” he told back in 2011.
“I was in hospital for six months. I was 10kg overweight and, despite everyone else in the hospital being so skinny and not wanting to eat, I was always hungry.
"My mother said I didn't look ill, but I couldn't move.
“The doctors would tell me to get up and go for a walk, but I couldn't do it. This disease is also contagious, so I was put in isolation, only able to play computer games and go on the internet.
“Every now and then a doctor would come in and give me an injection, three or four times a day, plus 10-15 pills.
“I eventually found out that I'd had tuberculosis for six months. The doctors said if another two weeks had passed, I might not have been able to recover.
"I almost died. This is why, whenever I play, I think back to those moments in Russia."
It took Silva six months to recover from his illness, during which time doctors advised the defender to have part of his right lung cut out.
The surgery would have ended his football career, and Silva had already considered quitting.
However, his wife Isabelle encouraged him to ignore the advise and effectively saved his career.
"I told them no one would open my husband up and end his dream," wife Isabelle told AP.
"I am not a doctor, but no one believed he should go through surgery.
"To see him wearing the Brazil shirt is a victory for us all, especially those that know him from those days."
Even after surviving the ordeal, Silva was not certain about his future in the game.
“I had thought of quitting football altogether," he told Gazzetta dello Sport magazine Sport Week.
"There was another occasion when I went to Flamengo for a trial and after two sessions they said I could go, as I was no better than any of the players they already had.
“I told my mother I didn't want to play football anymore, as nobody wanted me.
"However, she said in that case I'd have to go work for my brother, so I immediately changed my mind and looked for another club!"
Luckily for him, the manager who took him to Dynamo had returned to Brazil.
Ivo Wortmann told Fluminense he would be their coach if they took a chance on Silva in 2006.
The pair teamed up and the rest is history.
Fourteen years later, a man who had no hope looks set to walk into Chelsea's starting XI and challenge for the Premier League title aged 35.
Oh, and he's 36 next month.
