Is John Terry deserving of a new Chelsea contract?

Chelsea captain John Terry has announced that he wishes to stay another year at least with the heavy 1/8 odds-on Premier League favourites with Coral, following yet another successful season so far for him.

Former England skipper Terry, now 34, said: “No talks have happened yet but the club know my position. Hopefully I know theirs and it will get done.

“I think we both respect the position. There are a lot more important players to sort out. Eden Hazard has just signed a new contract and, for me, that’s the most important for the club.

“I want to stay and hopefully my performances are showing that, and they can keep me.”

But how deserving is the centre back and what makes him more worthy of a new deal than fellow former England and Blues legends Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, who were released from the club last summer?

Terry has, so far, played in every minute of every game for Chelsea in the Premier League, and only missed matches against four lower league sides in domestic cups, and Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League.

He has simply been unmovable at the back, and shone brighter than others in his position such as Gary Cahill and youngster Kurt Zouma, while Branislav Ivanovic has been pushed out to right back once more.

The fact that someone of his age can play so many appearances (34 so far in all competitions this term) for a top European club is remarkable.

In comparison, last season Lampard featured in 40 games overall and Cole in 26, while both played fewer minutes than Terry has managed already, with three months left of the season still to go.

So, it seems that Jose Mourinho’s philosophy is that as long as the person is a regular in the team, then he will be offered a new contract. As Lampard and Cole were bit-part players, the Portuguese boss deemed them unworthy of earning mega money new one-year extensions, and preferred to spend his money elsewhere.