Does Terry deserve a new Chelsea contract?

Is John Terry set for another season at Stamford Bridge?

Chelsea captain John Terry has made public his desire to remain at Stamford Bridge for at least another year.

The Blues captain will see his contract run out at the end of this season but he has no desire to follow in the footsteps of former team-mate Frank Lampard and move on.

Does the 34-year-old centre-back deserve to extend his glittering Stamford Bridge career?

Terry was a stalwart of Jose Mourinho's first spell in English football, captaining the Blues to back-to-back Premier League titles as the Portuguese put the club firmly into the big time.

As a one-club man there is maybe a feeling that Terry deserves an extension to his current deal based on sentiment alone.

Cast our minds back to the period immediately preceding Mourinho's second coming in west London and things were altogether different for Terry.

Under both Roberto Di Matteo and Rafael Benitez the Chelsea skipper found himself in and out of the first team.

Following on from the controversial fall-out with QPR's Anton Ferdinand, injuries restricted Terry to just 14 Premier League starts during the 2012/13 campaign.

At that stage it looked more than likely that Terry's Stamford Bridge career was set to end sooner rather than later.

Queue the return of Mourinho in the summer of 2013 and a complete turnaround in fortunes for Terry as a surviving General of the first trophy-laden Mourinho era.

Mourinho immediately placed his faith in Terry who was once again to become a mainstay of the Chelsea backline, making 34 league appearances as Chelsea finished third and reached the Champions League semi-finals.

While Mourinho set about finding the missing pieces to the Chelsea jigsaw last summer in pursuit of the title, there never appeared to be any question he was anything but happy with Terry's contribution.

That theory has borne out this season with the former England international yet to miss a single minute of Premier League action in Chelsea's 25 games.

The skipper has been a constant figure at the heart of defence as Chelsea chart what appears destined to be a title-winning course.

Seven points clear of champions Manchester City, Terry is set to land his fourth Premier League winner's medal.

Champions League and Capital One Cup glory are also still realistic possibilities in what could yet turn out to be the most successful season of Terry's career.

Little wonder then to find him making clear his desire is to remain at Stamford Bridge beyond this season.

Admirably, Terry is demanding nothing more than a one-year extension, acknowledging that at this stage of his career that is the only option.

"I want to stay. Hopefully my performances are showing that and they can keep me," Terry said this week. "I'll be happy to get one year and then see how it goes."

Given his performances on the field this season, it seems implausible that Mourinho would allow Terry move on this summer.

He will not turn 35 until December and clearly has scope to improve on his 656 career appearance for the club into next season.

Kurt Zouma has emerged as a credible option at centre-back this season but to date Mourinho has largely elected to pair the 20-year-old Frenchman alongside Terry as opposed to Gary Cahill.

Terry has been the best in the business for 16 years at Chelsea and Zouma will benefit greatly from playing alongside him.

At 34, offering Terry a one-year extension is no sentimental move for Chelsea.

He has illustrated this season he still retains the ability to operate at the highest level with the league leaders' defensive record bettered only by Southampton to this point.

Terry has chosen to voice his desire to stay at Stamford Bridge in a bid to secure his immediate future but realistically he needn't have bothered. Most of his talking has already been done on the pitch this season.