Academy player praises John Terry, calling him a role model

Chelsea have been making a clear effort to sign top young talent of late, and the club has also been pushing some of their older players to move on. With that in mind, you might expect a bit of bitterness from the "old guard". One youngster at Chelsea's academy has comments that would lead you to believe otherwise though, praising one of the old guys for his efforts to make him feel at home.

Andreas Christensen is one of the better U16 players on the planet, and Chelsea snapped him up this summer to join the youth ranks at Cobham. He's adjusted fairly well, and unsurprisingly he praised John Terry for his help in adapting to life at Chelsea:

I talk to Terry almost every day. He has even been so patched to drive me home a few times. He really takes care of us at the Academy. In the beginning I was a little surprised by his warm interest, but it has come even more surprise to me that the interest hangs on.

In a way, John Terry a role model. I feel he is trying to help me as much as he can. Therefore, it is my clear goal to follow in his footsteps.

Last week, he sat and played chess with one of the academy players. Terry may seem hard when you see him on TV, but he is absolutely fantastic to us young players.

These types of stories pop up from time to time, and Terry has always been a regular at U18 and U21 games when schedules permit. It really shouldn't be a surprise that he's been helping a young player who will likely never contribute to the club before he retires, as that's been the norm with Terry over his career.

Terry will never be a popular guy with the media and other fanbases, and that's probably completely fair. Whether or not the whole Vanessa Perroncel incident ever happened, it's hard to find much reason to completely believe his side of the events in the Anton Ferdinand incident without looking through some pretty blue-tinted glasses. There's clearly a reason that Chelsea have stood by him through several PR nightmares though, and it's likely things like this that explain the continued support he continues to get from the Chelsea fans and staff. Love him or hate him, John Terry has been absolutely fantastic for Chelsea FC as they attempt to build a world class academy.

Hat tip to @Chris_DK_CFC for finding this and pointing it out