What Does The Future Hold For John Terry?

Captain. Leader. Legend. Chelsea’s current captain John Terry holds a very lowly reputation outside of Stamford Bridge however to Chelsea fans all over the globe he is widely regarded as Chelsea’s greatest servant ever. The current 33 year old has just signed a one year contract extension after a very successful renaissance under current manager Jose Mourinho, however his days are clearly numbered.

From the great Chelsea team of the noughties era, only Petr Cech and John Terry remain. Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole have both confirmed their exits and it seems so that this may well be John Terry’s last season with the blues.

The important question that remains now is how one goes about replacing such an important, passionate player and at the moment the current solution seems to be one easily identified, Kurt Zouma.

Named by The Guardian as one of the ten most promising young players in Europe, Zouma was signed in the January transfer window for £12 million and then loaned back to his previous club, French outfit St Etienne.

In a recent interview, Zouma revealed to Sky Sports that he turned down many clubs to sign for Chelsea, he states “I really wanted to go to Chelsea. Did I have other offers? Yes, there were Internazionale, Monaco and Manchester United. All those clubs called,”. What this reveals is a player, who just as John Terry did, clearly loves the prospect of playing for Chelsea FC having signed for them amongst a crop of prestigious clubs such as Manchester United.

Zouma’s key strengths lay in his phenomenal physical tangibles: strong upper body, incredible aerial ability and great stamina. This great combination of height, mobility and power makes it obvious as to why he is seen as one of Europe’s most promising talents. However, Zouma is still a raw product that requires much development if he is to fill the boots of Chelsea legend John Terry. His 10 games ban for his horrendously ill timed challenge on Thomas Guerbert, resulting in an ankle break shows that this talent is very much still raw and requires development if he is to mature into the exciting talent he promises to be. With David Luiz gone it is clear tosee that Mourinho holds much faith in Zouma and indeed if this is John Terry’s last season with Chelsea it could easily be seen that Zouma is his natural replacement.

Written by James Barry