Is There Still A Role For John Terry At Chelsea?

Is There Still A Role For John Terry At Chelsea?

Chelsea FC’s influential captain has made only nine starts this season, and questions have been raised as to whether the captain still has a role to play at the club. Terry will make £6.8 million by the end of the season, a massive sum to the injury prone centre-back.

Even when Terry is fit, manager Rafa Benitez tends to prefer David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic, and Gary Cahill. Terry started in the mid-week tie against Fulham, scoring twice but failed to make it into the starting 11 for Chelsea’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool last weekend.

John Terry made it known after the Fulham game that it was Benitez not an injury that has been keeping him on the bench. He said, “I’m fit, I’m training every day and have been for the last three months [since recovering from a knee injury], so I just want to set the record straight.”

Chelsea are third-best this season in goals conceded (35), but that doesn’t seem to be good enough for a team that has striking issues as well. There is a place for John Terry at Chelsea next season if he’s in the manager’s first team plans. Make no mistake, he is still good enough to start for Chelsea in the Premier League.

This isn’t Man United where Sir Alex Ferguson can bench Wayne Rooney and few question the decision. It’s hard to tell who is in charge at Chelsea at times, so Terry would draw too much attention (and salary) sitting on Chelsea’s bench next season.

It depends a lot on the manager that will come in this summer. If it’s Jose Mourinho, Terry will likely stay and have a major role in the first team. If it’s not Mourinho, Chelsea may decide to give their new manager a clean slate and complete control of the locker room by moving Frank Lampard and John Terry on. There are, however, few teams around the globe that would be willing to pick up Terry’s £150,000-a-week salary.

To make the situation even more complicated, Chelsea have been linked with a number of centre-backs in recent weeks such as Dede of Vasco De Gama and Nicolas N’Koulou of Marseille.