Were Chelsea wrong to offer him a new deal?

Football FanCast

John Terry, love him or hate him, has been one of Chelsea’s key players for over a decade in the Premier League. This is probably why boss Jose Mourniho is keen to extend his contract despite his age.

The club captain’s current deal expires at the end of the season but in quoted reported by the Express, Mourinho told reporters he wants him to stay:

"What I can guarantee is that John will be a Chelsea player next season," he said.

"It's because I know what my board tell me, and what the player tells me. There is no doubt that he is going to get his contract."

Terry who is now 34 has made more than 550 appearances for the League leaders since signing his first deal in 1998. Terry's new deal comes only a year after the London club decided not to keep Chelsea legend Frank Lampard.

Lampard is less than a year older than Terry, so what makes them so different that one got offered a deal and one did not?

It is well known that goalkeepers have the longest “shelf life” of a footballer with many not hitting retirement until their late 30s, early 40s. But to play at the top level are you more likely to be shelved younger if you are a fast-paced winger or midfielder than you are if you defend for a living?

There are always exceptions to the rule of course. You don’t need to look any further than Kevin Phillips and Ryan Giggs who were still playing in the Premier League when they were 39.

So why can defenders last longer?

John Terry had a pretty shaky game against West Ham midweek and it was obvious to see at the end of the game that is not as easy as it used to be.

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He went down the tunnel holding his back and looking shattered. but he is the talisman, and the leader of the club, and he must be doing something right to captain his team to being at the top of the Premier League.

Defenders don’t usually have to do as much running as those further upfield, and it is often why they are seen as good captains, because they can watch everything that is going on in front of them. Midfielders do the most amount of running whether they have pace or not. The older they get the harder it becomes to keep up with their opposite numbers.

Steven Gerrard will be leaving Liverpool just before his 35^th birthday the same age as Lampard when he left Chelsea. While neither of them are retiring completely from the game, they were not given the option to stay at their boyhood clubs.

At the time it seemed unusual for Chelsea to let Lampard go – he might not have the speed he once had but he was still scoring goals left, right and centre. Once footballers hit their thirties, even if they are lucky enough to still be playing at the highest level, it seems the footballing world has already started your retirement countdown, regardless whether you as a player have or not.

So if you want to play at the highest level for longer, the answer is simple: either become a goalkeeper or defend!