John Terry: I’ve come to Aston Villa to win the league
John Terry turned down more lucrative offers from the Premier League to join Villa – and stated his ambition to win the Championship with the claret and blues.
The former Chelsea centre-half admitted his reluctance to line-up against his former club played a large part in his decision to reject the advances of the likes of Albion and Swansea and join Steve Bruce.
The 36-year-old also insisted the ambition of Villa and the persuasiveness of manager Bruce were also a huge draw in luring him to the West Midlands on a one-year deal, reported to be worth £60,000-a-week with a £2million bonus should Villa achieve promotion.
“Playing against Chelsea just doesn’t sit right with me, to be honest,” said Terry.
“Whether that’s different in a year’s time, I don’t know. The raw emotion of leaving the club after so long there just didn’t sit right with me.
“I had a lot of big financial offers to play in the Premier League and still play at the top, but once I took that decision out of it – that I wasn’t playing in the Premier League – this was an easy one for me.
“For a few weeks I switched off and a lot of managers gave me a lot of time and respect to make my decision and come to terms with it.
“After 22 years at Chelsea it took a few weeks longer than I probably predicted. They were 22 fantastic and unbelievable years that I will never forget but I’m excited about this challenge here of getting us up.”
