john terry is going to cause chelsea a huge problem in the future and the cost to fix it will be enormous there will come a point one day when jose mourinho is no longer able to rely on his captain and, privately, he will be dreading when that time comes the term to describe terry’s influence on this chelsea team is the same as the one you would label his performance at wembley: colossal mourinho’s brilliance as a manager cannot be overstated wherever he goes, he is successful and he has won trophies with any number of different players some managers need big individuals to get them over the line but mourinho does it regardless of who he is working with john terry's current form for chelsea is arguably as impressive as it was 10 years ago  terry scored the opening goal of the game in the recent capital one cup final win against tottenham  premier league: 2004 05, 2005 06, 2009 10 fa cup: 1999 00, 2006 07, 2008 09, 2009 10, 2011 12 league cup: 2004 05, 2006 07, 2014 15 community shield: 2005, 2009 champions league: 2011 12 europa league: 2012 13 with terry, however, the case is different when chelsea won the league cup 10 years ago — the first of the five trophies they lifted during mourinho’s first reign — the side was built around a formidable spine of petr cech, terry, claude makelele, frank lampard and didier drogba all those players have been subsequently replaced with one notable exception terry was as good against tottenham as he was against liverpool at the millennium stadium in 2005 and you have to ask when the time comes to fill his shoes, what will the price be? when you think manchester city paid £32million for eliaquim mangala last summer and david luiz cost paris saint germain £50m, you get an idea of how difficult it will be to find someone with terry’s many qualities on these pages 14 months ago, i described terry as the best defender in barclays premier league history and one moment towards the end of the game on sunday showed why he has stayed at the top of his profession for so long terry is the only player that remains from the old spine of the chelsea team, the others have been replaced  jose mourinho recognises the importance of his captain ad will be keen to retain his services  the game was won but tottenham were looking to grab a consolation and it looked like it might arrive when harry kane wriggled into the area he was denied, though, by terry putting his body on the line to make sure chelsea’s goal wasn’t threatened during the world cup last summer, i complained that there was a lack of great central defenders playing now — the type who will do the dirty work and would kill for a clean sheet terry is one of the remaining few as a player, i hold him in the highest regard and his consistency has been remarkable sometimes i don’t think it gets appreciated how difficult it is to stay at one club for your entire career, especially in the position john has filled i know what it is like to get beyond 30 and have people writing you off on the basis of your age, the constant questioning of ‘is he the same as he used to be?’ a bad game and the scrutiny comes on you there is an added pressure for defenders when you are not at your best, you know that one mistake and you will be the one who costs the team the game; midfielders or strikers can be taken off but as a defender there is nowhere to hide paris saint germain paid £50million for david luiz, who was considered surplus to requirements at chelsea  manchester city paid £32m for eliaquim mangala but didn't feel comfortable starting him against barcelona  but john has never hidden, not even after the campaign two years ago when he made just 14 appearances this season he is up to 36 and playing as well as he has ever done, leaving some to ask whether he could play for england again wisely, he has ended such talk he might be the best english defender but he is not needed for the euro 2016 qualification campaign, as england have already qualified the extra recovery time he now has between games helps his form and who is to say he will be playing so well in 18 months anyway? the future for england is players such as john stones and calum chambers concentrating on chelsea is best for him he is yet to sign a deal but i don’t for one moment expect the stamford bridge hierarchy to let him slip out of the club he is too valuable and given how mourinho sets his team up, he could play for at least another two years gary cahill and kurt zouma are good players but without terry, i would not be confident about chelsea winning the premier league next season if he was to leave, there would not be a team in the top flight who terry would not improve mourinho knows this better than anyone gary cahill and kurt zouma are good defenders but perhaps not in the same class as terry  terry and fellow goalscorer diego costa celebrate during the capital one cup final win at wembley stadium 
didier drogba frank lampard claude makelele jose mourinho john terry petr cech terry chelsea
chelsea will find it extremely difficult to replace their captain john terry  frank lampard, didier drogba, petr cech, claude makelele all replaced  but chelsea have never found a replacement for terry  people underestimate how hard it is to stay at a top club for so long  jose mourinho knows the value of terry and won't let him leave 