Andre Villas Boas wants reunion with Chelsea captain John Terry in China

Posted Wednesday, November 16, 2016 by Express.co.uk

Andre Villas Boas wants reunion with Chelsea captain John Terry in China
Andre Villas Boas wants John Terry to leave Chelsea

ANDRE VILLAS BOAS wants to bury the hatchet and take John Terry to China to work with him again.

Former Chelsea manager Villas-Boas, now 39, succeeded former England chief Sven Goran Eriksson as the new coach of Shanghai SPIG two weeks ago.

The Chinese club are preparing to make a move for Terry in the January transfer window, but are ready to wait until the end of the season if necessary.

Terry, 35, signed a new one-year deal at Chelsea last summer amid much speculation about his future, at the time turning down a £12 million-a-year two-year offer from Eriksson and SPIG, among other offers from China and the Middle East.

But he has now lost his place in the Chelsea team under new coach Antonio Conte, who has switched to a three at the back defensive system.

Terry has made just one appearance in the last two months since injuring an ankle, and that was in a 2-1 EFL Cup defeat at West Ham.

The Chelsea skipper has been on the bench for the last four Premier League games and faces a real battle to get back into the side with French youngster Kurt Zouma also now almost ready for a return.

Whether a new deal is forthcoming again this season is much more doubtful at Terry’s age but he would almost certainly want to see the season out.

Villas Boas was sacked after just nine months in charge of Chelsea in 2012 after a falling out with his senior players including Terry but now he wants to re-unite with the former England defender.

After leaving Zenit St Petersburg at the end of last season, the Portuguese took over at SPIG, one of the wealthiest clubs in the Chinese Super League, earlier this month.

Terry had to take a substantial wage cut to earn his new Stamford Bridge deal last summer and his current contract is heavily appearance-based, with a much lower basic salary.

SPIG’s rivals Shanghai Shenhua also wanted him in the summer, as did Guangzhou Evergrande. There were also offers from the Middle east, but a possible switch to the USA and the Major Soccer league never materialised.