Chelsea FC: Players Fighting For Their Future
John George Terry
The 2nd oldest member of Chelsea’s current squad at 35 years, his stellar performances this season have culminated in him breaking the defender’s Premier League goal-scoring record initially held by David Unsworth, equalling his highest scoring tally for a season of 8 goals (which he may eventually break if he scores in his final game of the season against Sunderland) and finally earning another year with his contract initially set to expire at the end of the season.
Not blessed with a lot of pace (a pre-requisite for defenders currently playing for many of the current top attacking sides in Europe like Barcelona, Bayern Munich, PSG and Real Madrid), he is mainly a throw-back to the defenders of old, with his uncanny ability to be at the right place at the right time to block shots, intercept passes and win headers making his lack of pace irrelevant. Add that to his leadership abilities, coupled with the fact that he is currently the last player to come up from the club’s academy to become a key player, and you get an idea of how important he is to the club. When you put all these together, it may seem silly of me to have included him in this list… right?
But when you take into consideration the fact that even Mourinho claimed to have had reservations about Terry’s ability to do the job required on his return to Chelsea in the 2013/2014 season, it gives you an idea of how close the latter probably was to leaving the club. With Chelsea trying to evolve to a new attacking style of play under Andre Villas-Boas in the 2011/2012 EPL season, his lack of pace caused the team to be exposed, forcing Villas-Boas to keep him on the bench in place of the erratic David Luiz. While he enjoyed a resurgence with the appointment of interim manager, Roberto Di Matteo, with a return to the defensive tactics that helped the team secure the 2011/2012 F.A. Cup and Champion’s League, he again faced another career fight when Matteo was sacked in place of Rafael Benitez, a few months into the 2012/2013 season.
Jose Mourinho has basically built his team around John Terry’s strengths, prioritizing defensive stability over attacking strength, which has been largely responsible for his impressive season. But while Mourinho may be loath to forgo Terry’s leadership ability in the future, the latter’s advancing age and Roman Abramovich’s much publicized preference for a sleek, eye-catching attacking brand of football may force Mourinho to re-evaluate his position on the ex-England international.
The emergence of Kurt Zouma, who has the advantage of being quite fast despite his huge size, and the speculation surrounding Chelsea’s interest in Raphael Varane also indicates that Mourinho may be looking to change the style of the team. John Terry will have a huge fight on his hands to prove that he has the required qualities to adapt to the changes that may come in the nearest future. With the club’s policy of offering 1-year contracts to players over 30, his time at the club may come to an end much sooner than he would like.
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