Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is adamant that John Terry has a major role to play next season even if he doesn’t start in every game.
Terry, who will turn 36 in December, has spent his entire professional career to date at Stamford Bridge and was handed a 12-month contract extension by Conte shortly after the Italian’s arrival in West London.
The former England international captain will face competition for his place from Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic, and Kurt Zouma when he returns to full fitness but Conte asserted that his leadership skills will remain essential even if he is not playing.
“In every team there are players with great experience and I think this experience counts during the season,” said Conte. “Even if you don’t play it’s important because that experience helps transfer the right concepts to the team.”
Despite his advancing years, Terry was widely considered to be one of Chelsea’s better performers last season when they slumped to an alarming 10th place finish in the Premier League.
Although injury problems and suspensions restricted Terry to 24 matches in the top-flight, he won an impressive 59% of his overall duels and completed a club-high 90% of his passes when he did play.
And Terry, who is entering his 19th season at the club, will be hoping to be named in Conte’s first starting line-up in a competitive fixture as the Blues kick off their Premier League campaign at home to West Ham next weekend.
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