Thiago Silva Wants To Follow In His Idol's Footsteps And Play Until He's 40

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Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil defender Thiago Silva has said he wants to continue his playing career until he is 40, emulating his idol Paolo Maldini, 90min reports.

Silva, 32, insisted that he is in the best phase of his career despite a perception among onlookers, he feels, that he is ‘too old.’

The Brazilian admitted he is wanting to model his career after Maldini, who spent 25 years playing for AC Milan, where Silva spent three years before moving to the French capital.

“Many people think that a 32-year-old player is already too old, that’s not true. I am feeling like I’m in the best moment of my career,” Silva told Canal +.

“The 2018 World Cup is still far but if I keep these standards, I’ll have many chances to take part to it with Brazil national team.”

“I want to play until I am 40, like Paolo Maldini who was my role model at AC Milan. I was lucky enough to play with him in the last six months in his career and I’ll try to take his same path until I can.”

Silva’s current contract at the Parc des Princes expires in 2017 and the player’s agent recently denied reports that he had held talks with Juventus over a potential Serie A return.

Paulo Tonietto said:

“It’s only normal that a player like Thiago is wanted by many clubs, but I have not talked to Juventus. I did register interest from other clubs, ones that were outside of Italy.”