Chelsea are now four games into the new Premier League season and things have started well for Ancelotti. As 09/10 gathers pace, bridgeviews.co.uk and thechelseablog.org have teamed up to look back on the biggest debate of the summer: should Chelsea have sold John Terry? Here at bridgeviews.co.uk we argue no, but click here for thechelseablog.org's arguments for selling our captain.
Well, well, well, what a surprise. Yesterday John Terry signed a new five year contract at Chelsea. It speaks volumes that, in contrast to the fanfare at Lampard’s signing this time last summer, the club chose to make the announcement only via two paragraphs on the official website.
The lack of celebration however is entirely a reaction to a month of rampant speculation about Terry’s future. Behind the scenes I’m sure there will have been a very real jubilation (and relief) that the captain reaffirmed his commitment to the club, and any reticence about upping his salary would have been short felt. Generally speaking, I think most Chelsea fans feel the same. I’m one of them: Terry staying can only be a good thing for the club. Here’s why.
His contribution
Technically, while he may not be playing quite at his 05/06 peak, John Terry is still very much at the top of his profession. And his peak is pretty impressive, anyway: this is a man who has won the PFA Player of the Year award twice, been named UEFA’s Best Defender three times (most recently last week), been named in the official 2006 FIFA World Cup Team of the Tournament and twice voted Chelsea fans’ Player of the Year.
Terry’s personal awards have not been handed over lightly. He is probably the world’s best defender in the air, but his reading of the game is of the highest quality and he’s also under-rated with the ball at his feet. Equally confident on either his left or right foot, he is more expansive with his passing than he is given credit for. 95% of his passes this season so far have found their intended target.
It’s telling that when Terry’s detractors criticise the centre half, they often try to paint him as someone who is made to look better by having a superior – and quicker – centre half alongside him, as if he should somehow be two men at once. Such are the expectations he has set for himself – no other English defender comes in for such unjust criticism (no-one questions Rio Ferdinand for not having Vidic’s strength or ability in the air, for example). In reality though, it is Terry that ‘makes’ the partnership, providing the defensive base on which the added talents of Carvalho, Gallas or Alex have helped to build the most successful defence in the country for the last five years.
Terry’s technical ability has directly translated to results on the pitch. Last season, John Terry played with three different partners in a central defence that was the most miserly in the league, conceding just 24 goals. In fact, in the 190 league games played since the beginning of the 04/05 season, Chelsea have on average conceded just 0.58 goals per game. By comparison Man Utd, who have won the last three leagues consecutively, have conceded 0.70 goals per game over the same period.
Having signed a new five year contract, one area of concern would be for Terry’s fitness. A number of niggling injuries – primarily to his back – seem to have more regularly affected him of late and there are question marks about whether his never-say-die attitude will cost him during the closing years of his career. Only time will tell, but it’s worth mentioning that last season Terry played 48 games – not a bad record. Of all John Terry’s rivals for a starting place in England’s defence, only Jamie Carragher played more, and at 28 years of age he could well be coming into his prime.
But to write only about his technical ability would be to sell Terry very short. Quite simply there isn’t another captain in the English game like him, and from that perspective he’s irreplaceable. On the pitch, he leads both by example (I doubt there’s been a more committed defender this decade) and as the tactical mouthpiece of the manager. Off it, he is the glue that binds the squad together and has represented the only shred of consistency the club has seen over the past five years. Sometimes I've thought that his influence has stretched too far, but fundamentally it isn’t only through clearances off the line or goal-saving tackles that John Terry has won points for his team.
At a time when the competition at the top of the league is looking more fierce than ever before, now is not the time to either weaken the highest-performing part of the team or rock the boat.
Finances
Reportedly Man City were ready to offer £40m for John Terry’s services, an absurd amount of money for any defender. It would be easy to say that such a huge sum of money would come in handy if trying to strengthen the side where it’s most needed: creativity in attack.
In reality though, I think this is probably a red herring. Real Madrid and Manchester City (£25m for Lescott? I ask you) have changed the transfer rules this summer, meaning the £40m Chelsea would have received for the club’s most successful captain ever wouldn’t stretch very far – potentially not even enough to buy one top class player. It feels wrong to trivialise it, but £40m isn’t very much to Roman Abramovich anyway. If he really wanted to bring in Aguero or Ribery for £50m, getting £40m for Terry wouldn’t need to be a deal-breaker.
It’s also speculated that Terry’s is now on around £160k a week, making him in all likelihood the league’s highest paid player. Leaving aside the argument about whether footballers are generally paid too much, I don’t think that sum is unreasonable. In addition to being one of the best players in his position, he’s also captain of both club and country. If wages are determined by one player’s relative ‘worth’ in comparison with others, I have no problem with him being at the top of the pile.
The club
It’s been written that keeping Terry in the face of Man City’s advances was an important statement for Chelsea to make, and it’s true. Terry staying was a clear sign that the club still has the financial and sporting ‘pull’ to keep the best players at the club, and bring new ones in. But this was a statement that was important not just for symbolic reasons.
I’ve written before about how the top of the league could be in line for a shake-up. Man Utd have lost The Best Player in the World™, Arsenal are still relying on youngsters and Liverpool have lost Alonso. In the meantime Man City are spending money like it’s going out of fashion and Spurs have started the season well. The ‘big four’ is very much on its last legs and each club will have to jostle for position to protect its standing.
In light of that, standing still is the new going forwards. Not losing Terry (or any of the best players) was this summer’s major coup for Chelsea, and absolutely essential if a realistic title challenge is to be made. Hopefully, whilst other top clubs are scrambling to rebuild their sides, Chelsea’s prevailing foundations provide the strongest possible base to build on for the future.
Look out for follow-up arguments to this debate on www.bridgeviews.co.uk and www.thechelseablog.org later this week. But what do you think? Happy to see our captain stay or want to see the back of him? Post a comment.