Former Chelsea captain John Terry will begin working with the club’s academy in January in a consultancy role.
Terry, who won 17 trophies over a glittering 19-year career at Stamford Bridge, has been out of work after leaving Aston Villa on the eve of the new season in order to pursue a managerial career.
That has yet to come to fruition, so the 41-year-old has agreed to return to his boyhood club in a part-time position where he will combine an on-field coaching role with mentoring of the club’s academy players.
Terry, who will continue with other commitments alongside the role, expressed his delight at returning to the European champions.
“I’m delighted to announce that I’m coming home, and have taken up a consultancy role @ChelseaFC academy,” Terry tweeted.
“As well as delivering on field coaching sessions I will be involved in coaching discussions and mentoring our academy players.”
Chelsea’s head of youth development Neil Bath said: “We are delighted to be welcoming John back to Cobham in a role that will involve coaching and mentoring the next generation of young players in our Academy.
“It goes without saying that John’s experience in the game, both as a world-class player and more recently as an assistant coach in the Premier League, will be invaluable for everyone in the building.
“He will be a great mentor for our players and a fantastic asset to our coaching staff. We can’t wait for him to get started.”
Terry, who joined the club as a 14-year-old, made 717 appearances, 500 of them as captain, and won five Premier League titles and a Champions League.
He left in 2017 to join Aston Villa where he went on to become Dean Smith’s assistant before leaving in July in the hope of landing a managerial position.
Gus Poyet, who played with Terry at Chelsea, backed his ex-team-mate to become a manager eventually while speaking during his punditry role with Amazon Prime Video at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
“He just needs to be patient,” Poyet said.
“I know JT, it will be great to see him coaching soon but the first job, the first when you are the main guy, it takes time.
“You are looking for perfection but it is not there. I would say relax JT, enjoy this coaching side and it will come.”
