37-year-old John Terry to sign with Spartak Moscow — report

John Terry isn’t ready to hang up his boots.

Sky Sports claim that the 19-year Chelsea veteran is about to sign a one-year contract with Spartak Moscow, with an additional club-option one year extension. Wages are reported to be £60k weekly.

Sky further claim that Terry had a medical in Rome on Saturday morning, after flying out Friday night on a private jet. Gianluca Di Marzio has video of him in Rome after taking his medical. Adding veracity to their report is that Terry has pulled out of a charity match at Celtic this weekend.

“I’m sorry I can’t be there today to support James Milner and Stiliyan Petrov today at Celtic Park.”

-John Terry; Source: Express

The Daily Mail say that Terry is being signed to replace French defender Samuel Gigot, who tore a knee ligment last weekend and is out for the season.

Spartak, by the way, are in the Europa League. Which means there’s the possibility that Terry may finally have to play against the club he captained for over a decade.

Saturday’s report happily coincides with an interview with Lee Clayton, also in the the Daily Mail, in which Terry talks about the pain of not gaining promotion with Aston Villa last season, of his hunger to keep playing, and of his managerial plans.

“I have the voice of Ray Wilkins, who was such a brilliant man to me, in my mind. He missed playing every day after he retired and he told me, ‘John, play as long as you can, don’t close that door until you have to.’”

If this report is true, and it seems to be, then Terry is heeding Ray Wilkins’ advice. He says he’s fit, relaxed and ready for another season.

“Don’t get me wrong, if I don’t play again I am content with what has been an unbelievable career, but I’m still hungry to go and play if everything around it is right. If it’s right for me and my family.

“I am in the best condition I have been in for the last eight to 10 years of my career. I’ve had a brilliant summer, the first time in 20 years I have been able to get away like that with my family during the school holidays. I was away so much last year because I was fully committed to giving everything to Aston Villa, but now I am fully recharged.”

We’ve all been waiting patiently for Terry to retire and begin his coaching duties. It looks like we’ll have to wait a while longer.

But that doesn’t mean Terry isn’t focused on the next stage of his career, even as he prolongs the current one. The shelves of his study are filled with training manuals and notebooks, Clayton says. The notebooks have hundreds of scribbled diagrams and descriptions, observations and names from countless Chelsea training sessions over the years.

Coaching — and coaching Chelsea — is something he still wants to do.

“Yes, it’s true, I want to be the manager of Chelsea one day but that is a five- to eight-year plan.

“I see what Frank Lampard has done at Derby and what Stevie G is doing at Rangers and I want a piece of that, too. They’ve gone into big jobs. I’ve always had a fascination with management and coaching.”

If and when Terry does get into coaching, we’ll have Jose Mourinho to thank, at least in part. Because it was Terry’s first training session under Mourinho in 2004 that compelled him to start taking the notes that now fill his study.

“After the first session — it only lasted an hour — the lads were in the dressing room and we couldn’t believe what had just happened. Unbelievable. He was clearly something else. It was the intensity of the session, the planning that had gone into it.

“So I went to the analysis guys and asked for a notepad so I could write down what he was doing. From his first pre-season, I’ve got every session mapped out. What we did, how long we did it for, comments from the players. It went from there and I kept doing it.

The Lee Clayton interview has a ton more stories from Terry, including reminiscing about how Gianfranco Zola and Wilkins helped him become a better player, his renewed commitment to eating right and training, his time at Aston Villa, and the possibility that he’ll be a TV pundit. It’s a great read.

Terry being Terry, he’s going to go full bore at Spartak. It’s how he’s built. And it’s how he wants to be remembered.

“When I look back, I don’t see myself as the most talented player ever but I am a winner. I see someone who went in and gave 100 per cent every day, with Chelsea and Villa. So whether that’s Sky, BT, beIN Sports, ESPN.

“If that’s another dressing room as a player or a coach, that’s what you get. I would want my team and players to represent who I am. If you have this, I believe, along with the talent and knowledge in football, it becomes a great recipe. That’s what I am about.”

-John Terry; Source: Daily Mail

John Terry.

Winner.