Monday 6 July 2009

New bid for JT

Today's papers are full of stories about a third bid for John Terry, to the value of £40m. James Ducker in The Times is representative of reports elsewhere:

Manchester City will make an increased bid of £40 million for John Terry, although any transfer is likely to be dependent on the England captain’s willingness to force the issue.

Chelsea suspect that Terry may be using City’s interest as leverage in an effort to secure an improved contract, but if he is serious about leaving Stamford Bridge, the club will insist that the defender submits a transfer request as they are determined not to be painted as the villains in any prospective sale.

City would not have pursued Terry so rigorously had they not been given grounds for encouragement and are refusing to concede defeat despite having a £30 million bid rejected last week.

It's clearly in Terry's hands. The fact that there is even a possibility of his choosing to come to City is remarkable, and a striking testimony to how attractive a prospect City now are for players.

Because if we did pull this off, and bring John Terry to Eastlands, it would not just be a definitive moment in the history of Manchester City, but in the history of football. This is man who has played almost three hundred times for Chelsea, has been captain for the past five seasons, during which time he has lifted two Premier Leagues, two FA Cups and two League Cups, who has become captain of England, a role he has now held for three years. He has wholly and totally embodied the 'one club man' archetype, and looked set to be, if not quite the Paolo Maldini, then at least the Tony Adams of this generation of footballers.

So for there to be just a chance that he could choose, at the age of 28 - a centre-half's peak - to leave the club with whom he is so synonymous, to join a mid-table team with barrels of money and ambition - is staggering. This has never happened before in football.

5 comments:

Simon said...

While I admire the ambition, it could not be helped that the overriding opinion would be he's come to us for the money. "So what?" we should be thinking, but I can't help but be worried about his motivation. I also think he's overrated as a player. As a leader, he's one of the best, but as a footballer, he's not the quickest, and not the best. I will not be disappointed if we sign him, it would be a massive, massive coup, (for some of the reasons you've mentioned) but if we miss out on him and we get Lescott / Toure / Hangaland etc. I would not be down hearted.

Crouchy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Crouchy said...

Well done, you've made Fan's Point of View on mcfc.co.uk.

"The fact that there is even a possibility of (John Terry) choosing to come to City is remarkable, and a striking testimony to how attractive a prospect City now are for players."

The Citizen said...

Speak, JT, speak

----- said...

JT is such an odious individual, that despite the message that it sends out about the clubs new found ambition and appeal, I am praying that it is just a rumour