Bobby and Jack Charlton, Gary and Phil Neville, Rio and Anton Ferdinand, Yaya and Kolo Toure – the stories of footballing siblings are always fascinating to follow.
Although for every tale of success, there are a thousand other brothers and sisters who don’t quite make it to the top.
But when Chelsea splashed out £1million on signing three siblings back in 2012, the footballing world sat up and took notice.
Speaking at the time, Luton’s head of youth Gregg Broughton hailed the ‘unique’ trio and insisted they stood out in their age groups as he said: ‘This is a historic deal to see three brothers transferred together.’
Chelsea spent £1m to sign Rio (left), Cole (centre) and Jay (right) Dasilva from Luton in 2012
The brothers were extremely highly-rated and spent several years in the academy at Chelsea after leaving then-National League Luton (pictured – Jay after winning the FA Youth Cup)
At the time, Jay was an attacking midfielder, drawing comparisons to David Silva, Cole was comfortable in both defence and midfield, while Rio played as a striker.
They arrived at Stamford Bridge with rave reviews with the brothers once taking a Luton youth side to tournament glory at a prestigious event that included teams such as Man United, Bayern Munich and an Ivory Coast XI.
For context, this was 2012 and Luton’s first team were managed by Paul Buckle. They had just failed to get out of the National League for the third successive season.
But, 12 years on, what happened to the prodigiously talented Dasilva brothers?
Rio was unfortunately the first to leave Chelsea, departing the club shortly after the end of his Under 15 season.
Alongside his twin Cole, they played in the same youth team as Declan Rice, Mason Mount and Eddie Nketiah.
Reflecting on his stint at Chelsea in 2021, Rio told football.london: ‘There was a big difference. Chelsea’s training ground was amazing. The whole facility was incredible, there was a huge leap to where we were.
‘The players themselves…that level was a big, big jump. It took me a little bit of time to get used to it, maybe one or two months, but then you start to feel comfortable and can show what you can do.
‘It’s (being released) obviously something a lot of boys go through but mentally it had an effect on me: I stopped playing for a while after Chelsea. But ultimately it’s about you picking yourself back up and pushing forward.’
Rio did admirably pick himself back up and returned to playing near to the Dasilva family’s Luton base.
No longer a striker, Rio became a right-sided midfielder and featured for the likes of Dunstable, Hitchin and Bedford Town, before he joined Kempston Rovers at the start of this season.
Kempston currently sit bottom of the Southern League Division One Central, which is step four of the Non-League pyramid and four levels below the EFL.
Meanwhile, despite his twin brother’s departure, Cole continued to progress at Chelsea, signing a professional contract in 2016.
Cole – who developed into a full-back – enjoyed a successful youth career which included winning the Under 18 Premier League, FA Youth Cup and UEFA Youth League.
Despite his twin brother’s release after Under 15 level, Cole continued to progress at Chelsea
He won the Under 18 Premier League, FA Youth Cup and UEFA Youth League with the Blues
Cole now plays in the local Non-League scene like brother Rio, turning out for Bedford Town
However, like many others, he couldn’t quite make the jump to Chelsea’s first team and joined Brentford B upon his release from the Blues in 2018.
Although he impressed and was part of the Bees’ first team squad for their pre-season camp in 2019, Cole was unable to break into Thomas Frank’s side and departed for a short stint at Croatian outfit HNK Sibenik in 2021.
Spells at National League South clubs Oxford City and Hemel Hempstead followed, before, like Rio, Cole settled closer to home.
The defender – who also works as a coach – enjoyed successful seasons at both Royston Town and Biggleswade Town, before he moved to Bedford Town earlier this week.
The 24-year-old has international pedigree, having represented Wales on 14 occasions at youth level, while he also played once for England Under 16s.
Bedford currently sit top of the Southern League Division One Central – the same division as Rio plays in with Kempston – and Cole’s move to the club comes after he left Biggleswade, who sit in second and just four points behind his new team.
Unfortunately, for fans of a sibling rivalry, Bedford and Kempston have already played each other twice this season.
This takes us onto eldest sibling Jay, who has been the most successful of the trio.
After an impressive academy career at Chelsea, the left back won three FA Youth Cups and two UEFA Youth League titles across four years as a professional.
Dasilva’s pedigree as a youngster was furthered by 63 caps for England from Under 16 to Under 21 level.
While at Stamford Bridge, he enjoyed productive loan spells with Charlton and Bristol City, before he joined the Robins on a permanent basis.
Across five seasons at Ashton Gate, Dasilva quickly became one of the best left backs in the Championship, making 144 appearances for the club.
He chose to leave last summer and signed a four-year deal with beaten play-off finalists Coventry.
Mark Robins’ side are in the midst of the play-off battle again, with Dasilva featuring in 29 of their 36 league games as they sit eighth, three points behind sixth-placed Hull.
Jay has enjoyed the most successful career and played 63 times for England at youth level
After leaving Chelsea, he made 144 appearances for Bristol City over a five-year period
Jay moved onto Coventry City last summer and is one of the Championship’s best left backs
Speaking in that same 2021 interview, Rio reflected: ‘As we grew older, Jay stepped up. Myself and Cole would look at him and think “Oh, he’s a level above us now, so we’re going to have to match that”.
‘It spurred me on, I wanted to be like my older brother. I looked up to him so much, he was inspirational, always setting a good mark for us to try to reach and be better.’
Meanwhile, Broughton, the head of Luton’s academy who helped to start the journey of the Dasilva brothers, is now director of football at Blackburn Rovers after spells at Luton, Norwich and Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt.
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