Thiago Silva is spending five days a week in the classroom – filling the gaping holes in his grasp of the English language.
If anything during his first few training sessions has been lost in translation, the scale of the task at hand was laid bare within half an hour of his Premier League career.
The veteran Brazilian, 36, has been shipped in to add experience, presence and leadership to a backline that has hamstrung Chelsea’s progress under Frank Lampard.
Instead, during a catastrophic first-half at the Hawthorns, the stand-in captain showed even the most seasoned and decorated defenders are not immune to the brain fades which still infect this side.