32 Greatest footballers in the history of the English Premier League - Part 20
17. John Terry:
John Terry is a professional football player who was born in East London. As a boy, Terry loved to play football and the wonder boy started to play for the English side Senrab when he was 8 years old. Senrab has produced many amazing “future” Premier League
players including the amazing strikers Jermain Defoe and Bobby Zamora. They have also made defenders like Ledley King and Sol Campbell, and John Terry is a product of the same youth academy.
John Terry currently plays for the English team Chelsea and also attended their youth academy after being a part of West Ham United’s “amazing” youth batch. The incredible centre back was then taken in by Chelsea’s youth academy and from there John Terry
started to become a lethal force near the 18 yard box. The 6 foot defender built himself well enough to become one of the best centre backs in the world and the English defender soon started to feature as a regular player for his new club, Chelsea.
“The Blues” were a side the defender was made for. Even though he changed only 2 youth academies since he started playing football, the English defender never found it difficult to settle into the new teams. He is one of the very few players that are a part
of the Chelsea youth system and are currently performing in Chelsea’s first team. Even the amazing central midfielder Frank Lampard was transferred from West Ham United while many mistake him as a Chelsea player. John Terry however, is a pure “Blue” as he
started off from the English club when he was only 16 years old.
John Terry started to feature as a substitute during the 1998 season when he came out from the youth team and shined “brightly” for the under-19 team. He finally got a chance in the first team during a match against Liverpool, when he came on the field during
the 88th minute of the match. Chelsea conceded a goal in the last minute and Chelsea lost the game 3-0 but no one knew such a talented boy was on the field at that moment.
Soon in the 2000-2001 season, he finally started to feature as a first team player for Chelsea and started playing regularly as a centre back. Since then John Terry’s journey to become one of the best defenders in the world began.
John Terry was voted as the best defender in the UEFA Champions League twice; in 2005 and 2008. He was also the PFA Players’ Player of the Year in 2005 and that very year he was included in the FIFPro World XI. From 2005 to 2008, he was a part of the FIFPro
World XI and during that time he was busy bagging titles for himself. He managed to be a part of the all-star squad for the FIFA World Cup 2006 and the honour was “big” because he was the only English player to be included in the all-star FIFA World Cup 2006
squad.
The Number 26 for Chelsea captained Chelsea at Wembley Stadium when “The Blues” had to face Manchester United in an FA Cup Final. Chelsea won the match 1-0 and won the gold that night. Wembley brings him great memories as he scored his first international
goal in the same ground when England faced Brazil in a 1-1 draw.
Even though Terry’s form never changed, Chelsea still lost three trophies in the 2007-2008 season as they couldn’t win the League Cup Final to Tottenham Hotspur. Later, they also lost the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League to Manchester United
and it was John Terry who slipped and missed the penalty.
If he scored that particular penalty, John Terry could help his team become the European Champions for the first time but sadly, Terry’s slip caused them a title and the captain could not help his team to victory.
While he was busy bagging titles alongside Chelsea, he managed to become the captain of the English national team in 2006. However, after being involved in a scandal with his team mate Ashley Cole’s wife, John Terry was stripped off from that honour, however
he still played for the English national team and till now he has earned 65 caps with the English team.
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