Sources “puzzled” by Chelsea captaincy call and veteran’s aversion to the armband | OneFootball

Thiago Silva’s brilliant spell at Chelsea is at risk of ending on a slightly sour note.

After playing so well and being such an important dressing room figure, the Brazilian is taking some flak as the team’s performances suffer.

Plenty of fans are happy to blame him – to a degree justified but also somewhat unfair. Matt Law’s piece in the Telegraph today lays it all out nicely, and has some interesting detail.

He notes that some club sources were surprised that Silva wasn’t included in the group of captains for the season. Picking young, home grown star Reece James as first choice made sense, but it was eyebrow raising that Silva hasn’t been more involved.

As noted in the piece, the Brazilian has even rejected the armband when offered to him on the pitch, playing into the idea that he’s sulking over the results and perhaps the original captaincy decision.

We’ve heard only positives from Mauricio Pochettino about Silva’s conduct, so maybe we’re reading too much into this, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on.