Thiago Silva is 36-years old but quite frankly, he looks like a 26-year old player yet to hit his peak out there right now.
The Brazilian international has been Chelsea’s signing of the summer so far this season and he is already being touted as a potential candidate for their player of the season.
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He’s come in and made a real difference at the back and makes the game look so easy. There was concerns that Chelsea would need to manage him due to his age, but right now (albeit a small injury recently), Silva has been playing a lot and managing fine.
He has plans to play at the top level until the age of 40, and as well as looking after his body, training hard and eating well, he aims to do this with the aid of a £17,000 on a hi-tech oxygen chamber to keep his body levels high.
Silva told Four Four Two magazine: “I do a daily two-hour session of hyperbaric oxygen therapy to speed up my recovery.
“I have a special chamber set up at home, where I breathe pure oxygen at high pressure – that helps to increase levels in the blood.
“The physiotherapist I used to work with at Fluminense and Milan began to research recovery measures and looked at what NBA players do.
“Given they play loads of matches in a really short time period, their recovery must be spot on, so we felt it would be an excellent benchmark.
“As it was for the benefit of my career in the long term, I saw it as an investment rather than an expense – it cost $23,000 (£16,700) to get one from the US!
“Last year, I decided to invest in a bigger one for $24k (£17k), with more space to move my body and be comfortable.
“Jorginho saw a photo I posted online and asked what it was, so I invited him to my place to give it a try.
“He’s since bought one for himself – but I don’t earn commission at all, OK? I usually use it after lunch every day – if I’m injured, it’s twice daily.
“I’m working my body to play until I’m 40. I’m not sure if it’s because I played with Maldini and he carried on until he turned 41, but I watched the last six months of his great career and could see it’s possible to get there.
“It was impressive, the way he prepared himself for games, and how he dedicated himself to the team. My plan is to be at the next World Cup in 2022.”
