Farewell, Thiago Silva: The free signing who became a certified Chelsea legend and will be impossible to replace

"Chelsea means a lot to me. I came here with the intention of only staying for a year and it ended up being four." That was Thiago Silva's honest admission as he held back the tears to announce he will be leaving Chelsea this summer.

Signed as a stop-gap on a one-year contract, he will leave as a bona fide club legend four years on, and with a Champions League winner's medal in his trophy cabinet. It seems a return to his homeland Brazil now beckons.

Predictably, the 39-year-old has been a model professional on and off the pitch, with his natural leadership skills invaluable in a period of unprecedented upheaval at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea aren't through the storm yet, but he has played a significant role in weathering the worst of it.

While his time at the club should rightly be celebrated, Chelsea now have the unenviable task for replacing someone who is quite simply irreplaceable; a club legend and a defender of the very highest order who cost them absolutely nothing.