John Terry has made more than 700 appearances for Chelsea © AFP/File / Ben STANSALL
LONDON, United Kingdom, May 19 – Antonio Conte is planning a fitting farewell for John Terry as the Chelsea legend prepares for his Stamford Bridge send-off against Sunderland on Sunday.
Terry will leave Chelsea at the end of this season and his last appearance at Stamford Bridge, in a blue shirt at least, promises to be an emotional experience for the defender.
The 36-year-old has hardly played for Chelsea this season after losing his place, but he started in the league for the first time since September in Monday’s 4-3 win over Watford.
He will lift the 15th major trophy of his career after the Sunderland match as Chelsea play the last game of their Premier League title-winning season before switching their attention to next weekend’s FA Cup final against Arsenal.
Terry would love his 717th appearance to come from the start rather than the bench and Conte said: “John is a champion and he deserves the best.
“It will be a surprise. It’s important to make the best decision and to find the best solution for him, for his career.
“He’s a legend for this club and in this season he has been very important to win this title.
“For this reason I think I have to take my time and to make the best decision for him.”
This season’s Premier League title was Terry’s fifth with Chelsea and he said following the Watford win that retirement was one of the options he is considering.
But Conte believes he can play on, with Bournemouth and West Ham reported to be interested in his services.
– Desire –
“John has all the possibilities to continue his career,” Conte said.
“We all know that he is preferring to play regularly and for this reason he has decided to leave. He wants to play regularly, every week.
“I think he has the possibility to do this, because he’s still strong. I think in the moment I called him to play he showed this.
“When you arrive at this point of your career it’s very important to feel yourself, to feel your body, to feel your mind, to feel if you have still desire, still will to fight to arrive every day and work very hard.
“If you feel this, it’s right to continue to play, to continue your career. John has all these characteristics.”
Victory for Chelsea over the relegated Black Cats would be a record 30th win in a Premier League season, breaking their own mark from the first two campaigns of Jose Mourinho’s first spell as boss in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
Conte’s future has been the subject of speculation, amid rumours Inter Milan are coveting him.
The 47-year-old maintained his line that his focus is on immediate targets.
And he declined to say if he would be sitting down with the Chelsea hierarchy to discuss extending the three-year contract he signed last year.
“First of all it’s important to repeat: I have two years’ contract to go,” Conte added.
“It’s important to underline this. Then I always said for me, for the players it’s very important to finish this season, to be focused, to be concentrated on our target.
“Now we reached a really important target for us, to win the league.
“Now on Sunday we have two targets: to try to win the 30 games in this league. I think it’s an unbelievable target for us.”
