John Terry during his time with Aston Villa
John Terry during his time with Aston Villa
John Terry has revealed that he had an agreement in place with Aston Villa that, if they'd been promoted under Steve Bruce in 2018, he wouldn't have to be called upon to face boyhood club Chelsea in the Premier League.
Centre half joined Villa in 2017, on a free transfer from where he'd scored 67 goals in 717 appearances across 19 years in the first-team. In that single campaign with , then a Championship side, he struck up a strong partnership with as the Lions reached the play-off final,
Terry, who later returned to Villa with and helped to form a part of his backroom staff as Villa did secure a return to the top flight in 2019, after three years in the second tier, admitted he didn't want to leave Chelsea but knew he couldn't maintain his performance levels at the back end of his career and chose to take his leave.
He wouldn't have, though, faced the Blues back in the Premier League the season following had Villa seen off Fulham at Wembley, two games in the 38-match campaign which he claims just wouldn't have 'felt right' featuring against the club who consider him a legend.
"I never wanted to leave Chelsea - and when I did, it was the year Conte had come in and we'd won the league," Terry told . "I got injured, which was a blessing for the team. I was at the back end of my career.
"I got injured, it took me a little longer to recover and when I was out of the team, we went on a winning streak of like ten games. I though s***, I'm not getting back in this. At that point I knew I was out of it, and I had nothing more to give for Chelsea. I never wanted to just stay there because I'd earned it as a player.
"I knew that my levels after that were going one way. For me, it was time to go. They'd offered me another contract. I decided to go to Aston Villa because we were in the Championship, and I had an agreement that year that if we got promoted - we lost in the final to Fulham - that I wouldn't play against Chelsea the following year in the Premier League.
"Two games I would have missed would have been against Chelsea. It just wouldn't have felt right to me. Ideally I wanted to stay at Chelsea forever, but I felt I had one more year in me and we gave it a good go at Villa, but unfortunately we didn't make it."
What should Villa do in the summer window?
adidas Aston Villa range - how to get yours!
Aston Villa have announced that they are selling a new range of fashion items that fans are going to be clamouring to get hold of ahead of the new season - including a limited edition of the iconic adidas Samba range.
The Villa colours are displayed on the trainers and they also show off the Villa badge.
You can also find an adidas DNA hoody which comes in simple Villa colours and a low key traditional adidas design.
The same design can be found on classic adidas track top on offer, this is the type of track top that fans love to wear -
The DNA range continues with a claret and blue t-shirt - , and on the training pants which can also be matched with any of the items -
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