ABU DHABI // New Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti yesterday dampened speculation that his club captain John Terry wants to join Manchester City. With Mark Hughes' Abu Dhabi-owned City apparently weighing up a £40 million (Dh237m) offer to sign the Chelsea and England captain, Ancelotti rubbished speculation the Blues linchpin would leave Stamford Bridge. "Terry will be at Chelsea forever," said the Italian. "He is a symbol of this team and will be captain next season. He said he wants to stay and we want to keep him. "There is no problem for him or for us, the story continues - Chelsea and Terry." The centre half's possible departure has threatened to overshadow Ancelotti's arrival as Chelsea manager. However, the former AC Milan alchemist moved swiftly to reject the ongoing speculation, likening the England defender to one of his former Rossoneri stalwarts, Paolo Maldini. "I like to have a captain like Terry, he is very close to Maldini for professionalism, for quality and he will be the best captain for Chelsea." With the player himself thus far refusing to rule out a move, the possibility remains that Terry is using City's interest to engineer a more lucrative contract offer from the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, something Ancelotti is clearly uninterested in. "It's not my problem," he said. The Italian did use his first press conference manager of the Premier League club to confirm the arrivals of Yuri Zhirkov, from CSKA Moscow, and Daniel Sturridge, 19, from City. "Zhirkov and Sturridge - these are Chelsea players. Zhirkov is naturally on the left and I think he can do all the work and can play in defence and in between." While Ancelotti's claims should end the uncertainty surrounding Terry's future, they are also likely to force City to move down their list of potential defensive targets. One of those is apparently Bayern Munich's Brazilian centre-half Lucio, and Louis van Gaal - the German club's manager - gave a warning to any interested club. "Lucio is under contract just like Martin Demichelis, Daniel van Buyten and Breno," said the Dutchman. "These four defenders all have a strong right foot and are competing with each other for one first-team spot." emegson@thenational.ae
* PA Sport
