John Terry returns to full training; Chinese transfer rumors return, too

Starting with Saturday's trip to St. Mary's to play Southampton, Chelsea's fixture calendar enters a busy period with five games in two weeks.  Fortunately, it looks like we'll have an almost fully healthy squad going in, with Kurt Zouma the only major absence.  John Terry is expected to return to full training starting tomorrow (today is a day off for the squad), while new kids Miazga and Pato should be ready to play a part as well (Miazga was almost forced to play on Sunday as Gary Cahill kept picking up knocks).  So that's the good news.

Less positive news is that there have been no signs of progress between Terry and Chelsea -- not that I was expecting otherwise -- so the assumption remains that the Captain will be leaving the club in the summer.  Where might he go?  China's looking like a real possibility.

"There is a lot of talk about John Terry in China. He has been one of the greatest defenders in the world for the last 15 years. He is still doing very well and has a lot to offer. He is one of the most recognisable players in world football."

"Chinese teams are looking for these big players. Great teams need great leaders. They do not come much better than John Terry. With his skill, his experience, he would be great in China, I have no doubt about that."

"China is the future. Football here will get bigger and bigger. I have already seen a huge difference. The more top players who come, the bigger and better it will get. This is a great place to live and play football. It is fantastic."

-Sven-Goran Eriksson; source: The Sun

Former England manager Eriksson is currently managing Shanghai SIPG who finished runners-up last season and already have all four of their foreign player slots filled.  But Eriksson surely has the pulse of the league, so when he claims there's big interest in Terry, he's probably not wrong.

Chinese clubs have been targeting players from markets such as Brazil and other Latin American countries for a while now, but have recently upped the ante and are finding themselves with enough resources to attract European players to the country as well. Getting Terry to play in China would certainly be a high-profile move, and it would be a much nicer scenario than having our captain play at another English club.