Chelsea ‘mistakes’ prove they need ‘Thiago Silva-type’ leader from Prem rivals – Hargreaves

The performance of Chelsea against Bayern Munich in the Champions League has proven to pundit Owen Hargreaves that they need to add a “Thiago Silva-type” leader from a Premier League rival.

The Blues lost 3-1 to the German giants on their return to Europe’s elite competition. Trevoh Chalobah scored an own goal, then Marc Cucurella gave the ball away, forcing Moises Caicedo to bring Harry Kane down in the box, who scored the penalty.

For the third goal – after Cole Palmer had gone on a mazy run and scored for the Blues – Chelsea again gave the ball to Kane, who netted his second of the night.

While Hargreaves was pleased with the attacking output on show from the Stamford Bridge outfit, he feels the mistakes made show a defensive leader is needed.

He said on TNT Sports: “If I think back to those Chelsea teams that won everything, they had Petr Cech, [Ricardo] Carvalho, John Terry – that’s the basis of any team.

“I think the midfield three is almost as good as anyone – Enzo [Fernandez], [Moises] Caicedo and Cole Palmer – but I still think they’ll probably address that in the coming windows. I think there’s a nucleus there that’s going to be really special for Chelsea and today just highlighted that.

“It’s not a criticism, it’s just a fact and I thought the two young centre-backs did okay but we’re talking about [Luis] Diaz, [Michael] Olise and Kane, some of the top performers, it was a big ask for them but mistakes cost them more than anything.

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“But I do think if they can address that centre-back position, even though they’ve got [Wesley] Fofana and [Levi] Colwill, two fabulous players, I think they need a little bit more experience as one of those players.

“Marc Guehi… I know he was a Chelsea academy boy but somebody like that, super reliable, you can just pop him in, mentor the young boys.

“I think having these young guys is amazing but having a mentor, we all had them as young kids coming through, I think probably need that Thiago Silva type, maybe a bit younger, just to help these young guys in a game like this, away from home in Munich where it’s very challenging.”

Liverpool and Bayern Munich are among the sides interested in signing Guehi, with the former coming close to landing him in the summer before Crystal Palace pulled out of the sale as they had no replacement in place.

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