Chelsea captain, John Terry, last night became the highest-paid player in Premier League history. Months of negotiations over a new contract concluded with the England captain agreeing a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge worth more than €10.4 million a year. There seems little immediate prospect, however, of his team-mate Frank Lampard following suit.
Terry, who had two years to run on an existing €100,000-a-week deal, will see his weekly wage packet double to nearer €202,000. The 26-year-old has said he hopes to see out his playing career at Stamford Bridge. The salary eclipses those of €180,000 -a-week currently enjoyed by the midfielder Michael Ballack and striker Andriy Shevchenko and was agreed yesterday after talks between the club and Terry's agent.
"I'm really happy this has now been concluded," said Terry. "There has been a lot of speculation but these things take time and I never had any doubts that I wanted to stay at Chelsea and that the club wanted me to stay.
"I hope the fans can see that we are all trying to build something special here, both for now and for the future, and I want to be a part of that. I've been at Chelsea all my career and have the privilege of being captain. Now it's time to look forward to the new season, which we are all very confident about."
The deal will come as a relief to Jose Mourinho and the club's supporters with Terry - who was badly missed at the turn of the year, after he suffered a serious back complaint - key to the side's stability for the coming Premier League campaign.
Final details of the deal were ironed out yesterday between Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon and Aaron Lincoln ahead of the first-team squad's departure for Glasgow, where they are due to play Rangers today.
Terry may feature in that game, despite still suffering from the broken toe he sustained in the 1-0 friendly victory against the Suwon Bluewings in Los Angeles last week. Yet Chelsea will have to wait before they can celebrate concluding a similar deal with Lampard.The England midfielder also has two years to run on his current deal and is seeking parity at least with the club's highest earners.
There has been rumoured interest from the likes of Juventus and Barcelona in the 29-year-old, who arrived at Stamford Bridge as an €16.4 million signing from West Ham in the summer of 2001. However, despite the fact that Lampard could technically buy out the remainder of his contract under new Fifa legislation, his representatives insist he remains committed to Chelsea.
"Everything is great with Frank at the moment," said Lampard's agent, Steve Kutner, who remains in sporadic talks with the club's hierarchy. "He's been delighted with how pre-season has gone and there's no possibility that he's leaving Chelsea. He's very happy.
"There's no massive urgency either from Frank's side or from Chelsea to sign a new contract. The reality is he could have bought himself out of the contract and left the club if he'd wanted to but he doesn't want to leave Chelsea. He has no intention to [ do so]. He's very happy there and it's all fantastic."
Chelsea continue to monitor the availability of Tottenham Hotspur's France right-back Pascal Chimbonda - the England full-back Glen Johnson could be used in part exchange should a deal be struck - even if Mourinho's first instinct would be to recruit Sevilla's Daniel Alves.
Veteran midfielder Claude Makelele could yet remain at the club beyond the end of his current contract, which expires in a year's time. Tentative negotiations have begun to retain the 34-year-old until 2009.
Makelele has been courted by Paris St Germain, Villarreal, Juventus and teams in Major League Soccer, who had all offered him a three-year deal, albeit on a salary a third of what he currently earns in London.
Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster says he is interested in signing Chelsea's midfielder Michael Ballack. "With his class, he fits perfectly to Real Madrid," said Schuster.
Guardian Service
