Premier League transfers: Veteran defender Thiago Silva will leave Chelsea at the end of the season.

Chelsea have confirmed that defender Thiago Silva will leave the club at the end of the season to join Brazilian side Fluminense.

Silva’s contract at Stamford Bridge expires at the end of June but Chelsea have given the player permission to join Fluminense early after signing a two-year deal. The 39-year-old has made over 150 appearances for Chelsea after joining the club from Paris Saint-Germain in 2020.

Silva was part of the Chelsea side that won the Champions League and Club World Cup in 2021 and will leave the club to rejoin Fluminense after 16 years away. Following the confirmation, the defender took to Instagram to make a series of posts about his pending move back to Rio.

One of the posts was liked by Silva’s international team-mate and Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes. Silva still has three games remaining for Chelsea before the end of the season.

The Blues currently sit seventh in the Premier League table and are competing to return to European football after a season away. They sit two points behind sixth-placed Newcastle Untied and ahead of eighth-placed Manchester United on goal difference.

Chelsea face Nottingham Forest, Brighton & Hove Albion and AFC Bournemouth in their final three matches while Newcastle United play Brighton, Man United and Brentford. Man United play Arsenal and Brighton either side of hosting Newcastle at Old Trafford on May 15 (8pm kick-off).

As things stand, sixth place will qualify for the Europa Conference League but that could change depending on the result of the FA Cup final on May 25 between Manchester City and Manchester United. If Manchester City win the FA Cup, sixth place will get the Europa League place reserved for the winners and the Conference League spot will drop to seventh. City are already guaranteed a Champions League spot based on their league position.

However, should Manchester United win the competition, they would have to finish sixth in order to see the Conference League spot drop to seventh. Both Newcastle and Manchester United qualified for the Champions League last season but were knocked out after finishing bottom of their respective groups.

Newcastle haven’t qualified for Europe in successive seasons since 2003-04, finishing 5th after finishing 3rd the previous season.