If John Terry makes a move to MLS this summer, it won’t be on a Designated Player contract.
ESPN FC’s Jeff Carlisle reported on Sunday that Terry won’t be able to land a DP deal if he moved to the league this summer. The longtime Chelsea captain will see his contract with the club expire at the end of the current English Premier League season, and he indicated over the winter that the club wouldn’t be offering him a new deal.
Carlisle reported that a league source told him that some preliminary talks between MLS and Terry took place over the winter, but that the two sides haven’t spoken recently because no MLS teams are interested in signing the 35-year-old “at Designated Player levels, which is what [Terry is] looking for.”
Chelsea head coach Guus Hiddink told reporters on Tuesday that he still thinks Terry is capable of contributing to the club, though admitting it won't be his decision to make. Hiddink took over as temporary Chelsea manager after Jose Mourinho was fired in December. He'll be replaced next season by current Italian national team manager Antonio Conte, who will take over the London club following this summer's UEFA Euro 2016 tournament.
Terry’s former England teammates Ashley Cole and Steven Gerrard both play for the LA Galaxy, while his ex-Chelsea running mate Frank Lampard is on New York City FC’s roster. Both Gerrard and Lampard are Designated Players, while Cole, who was signed in January, is not.
Terry was ejected from Chelsea’s 3-2 loss at Sunderland on Saturday, and the ensuing suspension will keep him out of the club’s final two games of the EPL season. The four-time Premier League champion, one-time UEFA Champions League winner and two-time World Cup participant is reportedly considering offers from China and the Middle East.
