Peter Kenyon: Chelsea will not sell John Terry

15 July 2009 20:47
The England defender, who was due to fly to the United States with Chelsea on Thursday, is wanted by Manchester City, who have failed with two offers, and Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, remains adamant that Terry will remain at the club. On Tuesday, City manager Mark Hughes claimed that he could offer Terry a "challenge" and "change of scenery" and his club could still test Chelsea's resolve, not to mention Terry's loyalty, with a third bid of £40-£50 million, while a move would be likely if Terry asked for a transfer. But Kenyon was in fighting mood as the club confirmed the extension of their sponsorship deal with Samsung. City are said to be offering to pay Terry a massive £200,000 a week but Kenyon said: "I don't know what they're offering but I'm confident John will remain with us. "John is a talisman; he's the heart of Chelsea. He came through the academy, he's our captain and he's also become captain of England whilst he's been here. "We're very confident that John will be remaining here as captain of Chelsea. We're not going to sell John so from that point of view it's really irrelevant what another club will offer. He's too important to us." Terry's team-mate, Michael Ballack, claims to have spoken to the defender and added: "I read it in the papers so I spoke with him. I thought, 'it's not true' because everyone thinks he is a big part of Chelsea and he has been playing here for a long time so nobody can really imagine that he would change clubs. "It's football and everything can happen. But I am really confident that he will stay. I don't want to talk too much about our conversation, but I have the feeling he will play for Chelsea next year." Kenyon has promised that new manager Carlo Ancelotti will be able to sign new players this summer. "We're always in the market; we've got a great squad of players and we've got a new coach this season," he said. "Carlo's started training in the last few days and we're off to the United States for pre-season and then he'll start to look at how he wants to freshen or strengthen the squad. "The coach himself will probably like to influence the way we play with another player but the window is open until Aug 31 so we're not panicking." There was also good news for Chelsea with Uefa reducing the European bans on both Didier Drogba and defender Jose Bosingwa. Drogba will now serve a three-game ban, rather than four, following his outburst at the end of the Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona, while Bosingwa's punishment has dropped from three matches to two, though in both cases their two-game suspended bans remain. The decision followed a private hearing in Switzerland attended by both players. Meanwhile, Serbia midfielder Nemanja Matic, 20, has claimed he has accepted a four-year contract offer at Chelsea.

Source: Telegraph