Terry signs blue-chip deal at Chelsea for £150k a week

Published on Monday 31 August 2009 22:43

CHELSEA captain John Terry has signed a new five-year contract that will keep him at Stamford Bridge until 2014.

The 28-year-old England defender, Chelsea's most successful captain, has been at the club since the age of 14.

Chelsea hope the new deal, reported to be worth 150,000 per week, will see Terry finish his career in west London.

A club statement read: "Chelsea are delighted to confirm that John Terry has signed a new five-year contract that keeps him at the club until the end of the 2013-14 season.

"This reaffirms both John's and Chelsea's long-stated desire for him to be at Stamford Bridge for the rest of his playing career."

Terry, dubbed 'Mr Chelsea' because of his long service and prominence at the club, attracted strong interest from big-spending Manchester City earlier this summer.

With two years left on his previous contract, he was the subject of a bid from Eastlands reported to be in the region of 50million but opted to stay with the Blues.

After a period of silence which fuelled speculation he might leave the capital, Terry publicly declared his loyalty to Chelsea late last month.

He has made 276 appearances in 12 seasons at Stamford Bridge and has won 54 England caps since 2003. The new contract is believed to make Terry the second highest paid footballer in the country, with only Robinho at Manchester City earning more on an estimated 160,00 per week.

Meanwhile, it looks like Carlo Ancelotti made the break from AC Milan at the right time.

A few weeks into his first season in English football, his Chelsea team are top of the Premier League after a perfect start of four wins from four games, he has already won a trophy at Wembley and has the Blues fans believing the league title is coming back to Stamford Bridge after three years at Manchester United's Old Trafford.

Ancelotti has devised a new tactical system the players appear to like and he has two of the biggest egos in the game – strikers Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka – playing in harmony.

After Chelsea's 3-0 victory over Burnley sent his team to the top of the table, Ancelotti surprised an interviewer by saying he wouldn't be watching their coverage on TV when former club Milan faced Inter later in the day in the first derby of the season. Maybe he knew Milan, with whom he won the European Cup as a player and coach, would be on the wrong end of a 4-0 drubbing.

Ancelotti's most recent triumphs with the Rossoneri were as recent as the 2007 Champions League followed by the European Super Cup although the team's last Serie A triumph was three seasons before that. He was criticised for hanging on to ageing players for too long and Milan finished well behind Inter in the title race in his final three seasons at the club.

Now in the unfamiliar surroundings of English football, Ancelotti is out to help Chelsea regain the Premier League title and maybe capture their first Champions League crown.

Chelsea are top on goal difference from London rivals Tottenham and Ancelotti said: "I am happy because we showed good play. We have to maintain this situation."

Asked whether his side could win the title, he replied: "We have a possibility. We started well but we know the season is very long. It will be difficult for sure but we have the possibility to step up."