John Terry needs to end his summer of silence and clarify
whether his future lies with Chelsea or Manchester City.
While a succession of statements have come out of the Stamford Bridge club insisting their captain is not
for sale, Terry's refusal to commit
himself speaks volumes.
Everybody knows he is considering his future, and will
be difficult for people to accept if he now comes out and pledges his loyalty
to Chelsea.
It is a surprising state of affairs. We do not know what has
gone on behind the scenes but I do not think that Terry would move for money
alone.
Chelsea have reportedly
offered him £150,000-a-week while Manchester
City will pay him
£200,000-a-week. Of course it is a significant difference, but would Terry
really notice an extra million pounds in the bank? What is he going to be able
to buy that he cannot already afford?
He has reached a point where he is so wealthy he should have
the freedom to play wherever he wants.
Maybe he just feels as though he needs a change of scenery
and lifestyle. He has been at Chelsea
for over a decade and is entering the final few years of his career. Sometimes
people just feel like a new challenge.
There is nothing wrong with moving clubs, and there are very
few one-club players these days, but if you are the self-styled 'Mr Chelsea'
you owe it to the fans and your team-mates to be honest and upfront about it.
Terry does not want to put in a transfer request - he would
rather the club accepted a bid first, and then he could save some face with the
fans.
But the issue needs to be sorted quickly, and if I were a Chelsea supporter I would
want my captain to stand up and state his intentions, even if he wants to
leave.
It is not fair on the other Chelsea players to keep them hanging on in a
state of uncertainty. One way or another, the situation must be resolved.
If he does go, I am not convinced Terry would be as much of
a loss as most Chelsea
fans fear.
Of course he has symbolic importance, but throughout the
best periods of his career he has been playing alongside Ricardo Carvalho who I
think is the better player of the two.
It would certainly be a blow to Chelsea's
morale if they lost their captain to a club with even more money than them, but
things will not suddenly fall apart.
Big clubs are able to sell high-profile players and still
thrive, as Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have done over the years, and I
cannot see Chelsea
suffering too much without Terry.
It makes sense for City to buy a defender since all they
have done so far this summer is accumulate strikers.
However, it is not so clever to spend £30 million-plus on a 28-year-old centre-back with back
problems who is vulnerable against pace.
City manager Mark Hughes has already said
Richard Dunne will be his captain, and the Irishman needs somebody with a bit
more pace alongside him.
As Carvalho is unhappy at Chelsea, he is the one that City should
target. It seems that City are more worried about making big, 'statement' signings
than looking at how their team will actually fit together.