Terry may return for Chelsea under-21s
Reuters - Tuesday 08 January 2013, 13:43
Chelsea captain John Terry, who has been out since November with a knee
problem, could take his first step towards a first-team comeback by
featuring for the club's under-21 team as an over-age player this week.
"The
good news is that Terry has been training and we are considering
playing him for the Under-21s on Thursday, we will have to see how he
feels," interim manager Rafael Benitez told a news conference on
Tuesday.
"It will be a
different kind of game, but if he is OK and can train the day after,
at least we can start considering him as an option. Hopefully he can
play some minutes in the short-term," added the Spaniard.
"It's a positive as before he was just doing the warm up, he's getting closer but it depends on his reactions."
Benitez
also said goalkeeper Petr Cech would be sidelined for Wednesday's League Cup semi-final first leg at home to Premier League
rivals Swansea City.
Cech has missed the last two matches with a leg injury.
Terry,
32, injured his knee against Liverpool in his first match back after
serving a four-game ban for racially abusing Queens Park Rangers
defender Anton Ferdinand and was initially expected to be out for three
weeks.
The controversial
skipper has yet to feature for the European champions under Benitez, who
took over 10 hours after the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo in November.
Chelsea
are fourth in the Premier League, 14 points behind leaders Manchester
United but with a game in hand. Their next league game is at Stoke City
on Saturday.