John Terry hopes that he is offered the chance to stay at Chelsea beyond the expiration of his current deal at the end of next season but says he will never play for another English club if he was to leave Stamford Bridge.
The captain was rewarded for his recent good form as he started back-to-back matches for the Blues which has given Rafael Benitez the option to use David Luiz in what has been something of a problematic midfield position. It has been good to see Terry look more like his old self as he has struggled since returning from the injuries that plagued him over the winter.
Whether he’s in the team or not, and it is likely that we will continue with a rotation policy, he has been professional and gracious when he has been asked to sit on the bench and he maintains that the needs of Chelsea are ahead of his own, although he’d obviously like to play more.
The 32-year-old is aware that there is a changing of the guard at Chelsea as he’s already seen Didier Drogba leave the club and will be saying farewell to the likes of Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda at the end of the season, but says he won’t pressure the club for an extension and is happy to see how things play out.
He was quoted on Sky Sports‘ website:
“I’d love to stay at Chelsea. If that’s not the case, I have got another year left which I will honour and respect, regardless if it’s a yes or a no.
“Naturally it would be disappointing (to leave), but at the same time you understand that you can’t be around forever.”
He added:
“Where I would go after that it certainly wouldn’t be in England. I couldn’t do that to Chelsea or the fans. That’s just not me.
“I’ll wait for the club. I’m happy to leave things until they come to me. We’ve always had that mutual respect between ourselves.”
Terry doesn’t have the earning potential of someone like Lampard abroad and Frank has already said he has no desire in seeing his days out as a squad member, not even Jose Mourinho would offer him any guarantees over playing time as I believe Chelsea will invest in a central midfielder this summer. Terry’s reaction to being benched has also been different so I reckon he’ll likely sign extensions until he decides to hang up his boots and pursue his dream of coaching, but whether or not he’ll do this on a pay cut is anyone’s guess.
It has also been rumoured that Terry wants to make himself available for England duty once again as David Bernstein will be stepping down which would be a factor in the decision to make a u-turn, but I don’t think it’s a good idea as it gives the media the opportunity to sling more mud and it probably won’t be a good thing for his Chelsea career.
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