Source: Telegraph
Steve Bruce: I was close to signing John Terry
As he looked ahead to Sunderland's visit to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday, Bruce said Chelsea agreed to sell Terry to the Yorkshire club but the centre-half refused to move at the 11th hour. [LNB]"I went to do my coaching badges at Notts Forest when David Platt invited me and Gianluca Vialli there," Bruce said. [LNB] Related ArticlesChelsea v Sunderland: previewOwen 'will get chance United chance'Henderson not intimidated by ChelseaWenger confirms Campbell dealRedknapp stays tight-lippedSport on television"It was a cold miserable afternoon and I saw John Terry in his short sleeves rolling his shirt up he was on loan there. I thought, 'Christ, he'll do me. I like him'. I always remembered him from then, so when I got the Huddersfield job I bid £750,000 and Glenn Hoddle accepted it. [LNB]"But the boy didn't want to leave Chelsea at the time. I was close. At the death he didn't want to go."[LNB]Like Terry, Bruce captained a side to the Premier League title during his days as a central defender at Manchester United and he makes no secret of his admiration for the Chelsea centre-half. [LNB]Bruce added: "He's everything you'd want in a central defender, he's a born leader. [LNB]"It was a lot of money. I brought Chris Lucketti from Bury instead, and no disrespect ... he was only a boy then." [LNB]
