Date: 31st May 2013 at 5:00pm
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Aston-Villa-v-Chelsea-John-Terry-injured_2942758Jose Mourinho’s first task as Chelsea’s new manager will be to determine the future of club captain John Terry, according to reports in the Daily Mail.

The 32-year-old has one year remaining on his £150,000-a-week salary and wants to extend his stay but Mourinho will have the final say. We could be facing a potential saga as we did with Frank Lampard, only the circumstances and context are a little different.

We have already seen evidence that the club isn’t just going to hand out extension as both Ashley Cole and Lampard were made to sweat over theirs, so I imagine that it is something that will be discussed at length between Mourinho and the club’s board.

Terry has just completed what has probably been the most difficult season during his Chelsea career and only made 27 appearances as he struggled for both injury and form, one having a definite impact on the other.

Early on in the campaign Terry was suspended and fined after a Football Association tribunal found him guilty of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand the previous year. After his four-match ban the defender returned, scored and was injured during 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge in November.

Originally it was revealed that the knee damaged wasn’t as serious as the possible ligament damage that was feared but it managed to keep Terry out for 16 first team matches. From then on Rafael Benitez was very cautious with him, some say overly so, and he was rarely risked as David Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic were generally preferred and Gary Cahill, when he was fit.

Disaster struck again for the skipper when he had to be stretchered off with an ankle injury sustained against Aston Villa away, an injury which made him miss a second consecutive European final. Are years of playing through injury and sacrificing himself for the team catching up on Terry?

I think he’ll be given the year that he has remaining and he’ll want to test his fitness as much as the club will want to monitor him. We do know that he dreams of one day becoming a manager, so will need to start coaching somewhere and he may well seek Mourinho’s advice on this and the Portuguese manager’s words will have a bearing on Terry’s choices.

Even if worst comes to worst and the manager/club/player decide that he can’t/won’t carry on then coaching is something that I believe Terry will excel at as he’s a natural leader, so whatever happens we won’t have heard the last of Captain, Leader, Legend.

Source: Daily Mail

 

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