John Terry could miss Chelsea games under new Aston Villa deal

Aston Villa are confident John Terry will sign a new contract if they win promotion to the Premier League and are willing to reach an agreement with the 37-year-old that would allow him to miss both games against Chelsea to help facilitate any deal.

Terry signed a lucrative one-year contract with Villa last July and revealed at the time that he had turned down offers to remain in the Premier League because he did not want to face Chelsea, where he made 717 appearances across 22 years. Within Terry’s deal there is a clause that entitles him to a new 12-month contract if Villa are promoted – they face Fulham in Saturday’s Championship play-off final – as well as a substantial bonus.

Villa firmly believe that Terry, who has started 32 league games this season, will want to stay if they return to the top flight and they are prepared to remove any possibility of the fixtures against Chelsea being an issue. Although Steve Bruce’s response to that potential problem was slightly tongue-in-cheek, it is understood that Villa would agree to Terry missing the Chelsea matches if need be.

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Asked whether it was certain that Terry would stay if Villa defeat Fulham, Bruce, the manager, replied: “Well, we’ll not pick him against Chelsea if that’s what he wants. I really genuinely hope he triggers it. All those phone calls to him, he hasn’t been disappointed with it. You can’t be disappointed when you walk through here.”

Bruce said that Terry had been a huge influence at Villa on and off the field. “I just knew what he would give. Let’s be fair, he has been one of the great defenders of our country. He is a great leader of men, which we don’t produce many of any more, and in a quiet way; he is not a ranter and a raver, he is not one who puts heads through doors. He is calm. People like [Jack] Grealish have looked up to him and thought: ‘Is that the way I’ve got to be to be a top player?’”

Bruce’s opposite number on Saturday, Slavisa Jokanovic, has said he intends to pressurise Terry and James Chester and expects the pair to make mistakes. “Experience in life is important but it’s not everything,” Fulham’s manager said. “When you talk about experience you are talking about the past. John Terry is a fantastic player, so is James Chester. They have experience playing in this stadium. But probably they cannot be in their best level right now.

“We are the youngest team, the team with more energy. We believe in our style. We believe we can dominate the situation. We are going to try to put against Terry some fast and some stronger players. I expect he can make some difference in our favour. He plays in a complicated position. All of us can make mistakes and I expect some mistakes from his side.”

Jokanovic responded to rumours of interest in him from Chelsea by saying: “I have a contract and that’s it. I am not thinking about the future. This game is so huge I don’t know what I am going to do on Sunday morning.”