Chelsea center back John Terry. (Photo : Getty Images)
Chelsea FC defender John Terry is reportedly close to making a £12 million move to China as his option to spend next season in the United States' Major League Soccer turned out to be an unwise one in terms of financial benefits.
The 35-year-old legendary center back, who had played for Chelsea for 18 seasons - almost his whole senior career - is said to be out of incoming Blues head coach Antonio Conte's plans for next season. The club has not given him any extensions yet on his expiring contract this summer and there are no indications that the Stamford Bridge residents are intending to do so at this moment.
With that, Terry had announced months ago that he will exit the Bridge at the end of the season and he is considering to move to the US, the Middle East, or in China depending on the offers that will be thrown his way during the offseason.
His first choice was the MLS, but after initial negotiations he found out that he is unable to have a "designated player" status in the league, which means that he will only receive a £5,000 a week salary there. It is so much lower that the £100,000 weekly wage he receives at the moment and so it prompted him to look elsewhere, particularly to China.
The Independent reported that an unnamed Chinese Super League squad is prepared to pay the former England national team captain £500,000 per week, or £12 million per year, for him to join them. That kind of stratospheric salary will make Terry one of the highest-paid players in the world in the level of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Two CSL squads, Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai SIPG are said to be interested in snagging Terry as their coaches, Luiz Felipe Scolari, his former Chelsea coach, and Sven-Göran Eriksson are both a fan of the veteran defender's style of play.
Jiangsu Suning head coach Dan Petrescu, Terry's former Blues teammate, is also rumored to be interested, as well as Shanghai Shenhua with striker Demba Ba, another one of the Englishman's colleagues.
Terry recently made a plea to Conte that he wants to stay with Chelsea next season, but the club is set to notify him that his time at the Stamford Bridge is officially over, as per The Guardian.
