Terrys not only the best Chelsea centre back in the Premier League era... hes the best theres been full stop You have to hand it to John Terry because he has certainly seen off some threats in his 16 years as a professional at Chelsea. Some, such as the France World Cup winner Marcel Desailly, William Gallas and Ricardo Carvalho, were more serious than others. Khalid Boulahrouz, Alex and Tal Ben Haim maybe not so much, but they were all brought in to the club under Terry’s watch. Terry, in his 16th season as a professional footballer with Chelsea, remains. He is probably playing better than ever. Little wonder, then, that he is agitating for news of another contract at Stamford Bridge. They are certainly making him sweat. Marina Granovskaia, who is Roman Abramovich’s eyes and ears around the place, appears to have enjoyed the moment she told Terry that the club have a new policy in place. Out of nowhere, it appears any one by the name of John Terry will only be offered one year contracts now that he is over 30 years of age. He is panicking a bit, probably with good reason after putting himself in pole position to be Chelsea’s player of the year. Perhaps Granovskaia, who is a member of the football club board at Chelsea, remembers the last time she was involved in negotiations with Terry back in July 2009. More on that in a moment because the unsavoury slog through the media that summer put a few noses out of joint. Back to where it all matters, though, and his performances on the pitch. Football clubs will pretty much forgive anything - and there has been much to forgive in this case - so long as they perform out on the pitch. Terry is not only the best central defender in Chelsea’s history, but he is also unrivalled in two decades of the Barclays Premier League. He is the best there has been. It was only a couple of weeks ago when Terry’s 600th appearance in a Chelsea shirt was being commemorated before their Premier League clash with Manchester United. ‘An incredible achievement by a guy who has given everything for a club for many, many years and continues to do so,’ cooed his manager Jose Mourinho in his programme notes. Terry, 33, has played in all 22 Premier League fixtures for Chelsea this season and he will captain the team against West Ham on Wednesday. He has realigned his game, handing marking duties to his partner Gary Cahill and using his positioning, which has always been his best attribute, to dictate the game. He has been phenomenal. Back to that £150,000 a week contract, which expires on June 30 this year: ‘I trust John and I think he trusts me,’ was Mourinho’s take on the situation last Friday. Last time round, when he was working off pay-as-you-go mobile phones to flirt with Manchester City in 2009, he tucked up one or two people on the way to securing a five year deal with Chelsea. Still, you live and learn. At the time he was so powerful at Chelsea it was untrue: he used to take his kids swimming at the club’s Surrey training base as if it was his own personal leisure centre. But over the years, with each lurid appearance on the front page of a tabloid newspaper, his authority at the club has slowly eroded. He remains captain, but he has had to keep his nose clean over the past couple of years. There has been the odd blip, such as the announcement that he was ready to play for England again on the flight home from Basle on April 25 last year, but that’s about it. To be fair to him, if he could put one or two personal issues with the FA to one side, he would play for England at this summer’s World Cup finals. Let’s face it, Roy Hodgson would take the country’s best central defender at the drop of a hat if he was available for selection. AC Milan signing Essien: Mourinho urged me to grab chance Michael Essien admits the presence of Clarence Seedorf had a big influence on his decision to move to AC Milan. The former Chelsea midfielder has signed an 18 month deal with the Rossoneri. I want to say thank-you, I’m happy to have joined the Milan family,” he said. “I have my best friend Sulley Muntari here and I’ve known him a long time. There is also Ricardo Kakà who I played with at Real Madrid last year. “I’m looking forward to starting to play with the group and I can’t wait to give everything to the group. I’ve known Seedorf for a long time, I asked him to a charity match in Ghana many times. Jose Mourinho said it would be a great experience and I would settle well in Italy. “I told friends that before retiring that I wanted to play for this club and achieve my dream. It was easy to make a decision after speaking to Clarence. “I had a lot of offers but Clarence made it easy choice for me. “Milan always play to win trophies so I know I’m coming to a big club. I’ve chosen the number 15 shirt. I’m fit and ready to play. “I just need to work hard to put himself up for selection for the coach. I’m looking forward to playing with all of the players. “I’m excited to play in the Champions League here as I was not registered with Chelsea. I played a couple of times against Atletico Madrid but with the players we have here we can win the game against them.”
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 15:55:59 +0000
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