Things more 'positive' for Silva after being stranded twice

In an interview with 'The Guardian', Silva recalled back to 2005, when Chelsea's Jose Mourinho approached young players in a bid to poach them from Sporting Lisbon in 2005.

The 29-year-old explained: ''To have this club approach me, especially when Mourinho comes to talk to you...at this time, we didn't know why he came. But when the club wants something, they do everything. He came to see me in Portugal and we went there, to Chelsea, to see the training ground. Then we came back and it was a big, big situation with Sporting.''

The Portuguese club were incensed and complained to FIFA about Chelsea, which then prevented Silva and his two young team-mates from training or playing for the club for a duration of two months.

The central midfielder did not sign with Chelsea, because he thought that the club ''wanted to win now and not wait for young players'' and it seems as though his instinct was correct.

Both of his team-mates, Fabio Ferreira and Ricardo Fernandes, who did sign at Chelsea, were dropped after four years without having played a game for the club. After remaining at Sporting though, Silva went on to make 241 appearances and represent Portugal at international level before his transfer to Leicester. 

However, last year, the Frenchman was left stranded for the second time in his career. In August 2017, Leicester missed the transfer deadline for the midfield by only 14 seconds. FIFA then rejected the application and Silva was unable to play for the team until four months later. He was forced to stay in a hotel for six weeks whilst both he and his agent exhausted all avenues to contest FIFA's decision.

When asked about the ordeal, Silva said: ''This situation wasn't correct because I was able to play physically and I didn't do anything wrong. I will never understand the decision of FIFA. There is no protection for the players in this situation. OK, if it is so many hours [after the deadline], but we’re talking about seconds here. So I think it was a very poor decision.''

When asked who he thought was responsible, Silva replied ''We still don't know. For me, I think FIFA the most. But I'm not worried about it now.''

Since the ban was lifted, the midfielder has since made six appearances and is now only thinking about his immediate future: ''I want to get past Chelsea and reach the FA Cup final. And to go to the World Cup after, that would be the best way for it to end for me.'' 

Silva will most likely start on the bench for the 'Foxes' against Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.