Chelsea transfer target branded 'incredible' by John Terry

FT Desk

• 28 Nov 2022 09:43 GMT
• 3 min read

Chelsea plan to keep spending in the January transfer window and one of their key targets has former captain John Terry's seal of approval.

Chelsea were the biggest spenders in world football last summer, dropping more than €280 million on new players such as Raheem Sterling, Wesley Fofana and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in what was Todd Boehly's first transfer window as the club's owner.

But the purse strings aren't likely to tighten anytime soon, with the Blues heading into the winter break in eighth in the Premier League, Thomas Tuchel's successor as manager Graham Potter unable as yet to get a consistent tune out of his ensemble.

READ: What Chelsea's £200m moves for Rice and Bellingham mean for Mount

One problem area for Chelsea is in central midfield, with N'Golo Kante and Jorginho both now the wrong side of 30 and the former in particular increasingly sidelined by injury.

— West Ham United (@WestHam) October 17, 2022

The Blues have lined up a sensational double swoop for England midfielders Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice, currently of Borussia Dortmund and West Ham respectively, and while competition for the former is fierce, Terry thinks the latter would be "incredible" for Chelsea.

Terry seal of approval

"You know what, Dec obviously loves Chelsea - I think everyone knows that," he said earlier this year. "I think the rejection he had from Chelsea has really helped his career actually.

READ: Which players are Chelsea watching at the World Cup?

"For me, looking from the outside, unless West Ham go and make a big statement in the summer and go and spend £100 million plus and say, 'We want to keep Dec and we want to bring in top players like you,' - then I think he's got a decision to make."

Rice, like Terry, was once a Chelsea academy player, but unlike the former England centre-back he never got his chance with the Blues as was released as a 14-year-old in 2014. He is now valued at €67.5m by Football Transfers' in-house algorithm…