Thiago Silva: "Difficult" to replace Alessandro Nesta

AC Milan defender Thiago Silva has admitted that it will be difficult to replace outgoing centre-back Alessandro Nesta when he leaves the club at the end of the season.

Nesta, who announced that he will not sign a new contract at the San Siro earlier this week, is among a group of veterans including Gennaro Gattuso and Fillipo Inzaghi who are all expected to leave the club this summer.

"Milan is not just about Thiago Silva," he said. "Great champions are leaving us.

"It is not easy to immediately replace them. Being here carries a great responsibility.

"There is another great player stopping in Nesta. It is sincerely difficult to describe a great champion like him. He's a great man, he helped me a lot."

Milan signed Nesta, 36, from boyhood club Lazio in 2002.