Thiago Silva’s Revealing Text Message to Lampard Sends Powerful Message to Chelsea Squad

Frank Lampard signed seven players during his first stint as Chelsea manager and has now been reunited with them after being named interim manager until the end of the season. Frank Lampard has returned to the Chelsea dugout two years after being sacked when the club was languishing in ninth place.

During his first season as manager at Stamford Bridge, the former Blues captain signed a number of high-profile players, including Germany international Kai Havertz in a £70 million deal, as well as Timo Werner and Ben Chilwell.

Lampard also signed two free agents, both Ligue 1 centre-backs, Malang Sarr from Nice and Thiago Silva from Paris Saint-Germain, with the latter quickly becoming, and still remains, one of Chelsea’s most important players.

Lampard sent Silva a photo of them together at the Maracana after Silva signed a contract with Chelsea, where England drew 2-2 with Brazil in a friendly in 2013.

In an interview with FourFourTwo, Silva discussed the gift and explained what it meant to him.

“As soon as I said yes, he sent me a picture of us both shaking hands as national team captains in 2013,” he explained. “It was a pleasant surprise.”

“He understood exactly what I needed at this stage of my career, probably because he had made a similar move when he was also 36, from Chelsea to Manchester City.

“I didn’t think twice when I heard Chelsea were interested in me – not only because of their history but also because Willian and David Luiz invariably spoke highly of them.

“Marina [Granovskaia, club director] called me after I’d agreed, then passed me on to Frank. It was through a translator because I still don’t speak English and his accent was even tougher for me!”

Silva would go on to repay Lampard’s kindness long after he was fired and replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who led Chelsea to Champions League victory over Manchester City in Porto.

Silva thanked Lampard for signing him in a text message shortly after winning the trophy.

Lampard told Gary Neville on the Overlap about watching Chelsea win the Champions League final after being fired: “I found it tough watching that game.”

“But when I walk around the streets here I had so many Chelsea fans come up to me: ‘You were a part of that’ and ‘Did you enjoy that?’ and I’m like ‘Yeah’.

“But when I got over that feeling I felt a sense of, it has been my club for a long time and always will be and I can take some happiness from players like Mason [Mount] and Reece [James].

“Thiago Silva sent me a beautiful message after the game sort of saying ‘Thanks for bringing me to the club’ and all this happened and when it settles you can absolutely look at that with a much more positive eye than the football side can sometimes take you.”

While Silva’s words may seem insignificant on the surface, they indicate Lampard is well respected in the Blues’ dressing room – and by a player as influential as the Brazilian.

This should make Lampard’s job of steadying the ship at Stamford Bridge a little easier before a new boss arrives in the summer and permanently replaces the Englishman.