John Terry leaving Chelsea at the end of the season has pretty much put most Premier League clubs on red alert. The former England centre-half has had a brilliant 17-year stint at Stamford Bridge, in which he has won almost everything possible at club level.
Among the clubs who have taken a keen interest in the Premier League veteran include Bournemouth, West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City and more. And if reports are to be believed, then Potters boss Mark Hughes has further plans of moving for the player in the coming summer transfer window.
In a pre-match press conference, when Hughes was enquired about the matter, he stated, “I think there will be a lot of interest in John Terry… I spoke briefly with him after the Chelsea game (on New Year’s Eve) and had a laugh and a joke about things, about where his future lies… Whether or not we’d be able to present anything to John that would make him think (about coming here), I don’t know. I haven’t had that conversation.”
Bournemouth were one of the early clubs to enquire about the player in January and Stoke have also kept tabs on him. The 36-year-old has announced he is leaving the club at the end of the season after managing just six league outings, but it goes without saying that the player still has a lot to give at the top level.
Stoke City have their own problems at the back. After a season-long loan stint at Bet365, it seems FC Porto are now unwilling to let go of Bruno Martins Indi. Stoke have plans to changing the loan into a £8 million permanent move, but things could pan out either way. In which case, Stoke City would need an experienced option to partner Ryan Shawcross at the heart of the defence.
“There’s an area we can negotiate, but at the moment Porto have made a stand that they don’t want to sell,” Hughes was heard saying.
In Terry, Stoke would not only get a hugely experienced defender but more essentially a leader who can bring the team out of difficult scenarios. Terry has now played a whopping 489 games in the Premier League, in which he has scored 40 goals and assisted 18 times.
After a decent first half of the season, Stoke City were unable to hold on to their form and it seems like they will finish somewhere in the midtable. Hughes will surely target a first half finish next season after an encouraging campaign this term and getting Terry could be the first big step towards it.
