Chelsea still miss the presence of 'incredible' John Terry, admits Antonio Conte

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Vaishali Bhardwaj9 March 2018

Antonio Conte admits Chelsea have missed the experience and leadership of "incredible" John Terry this season.

Terry, Chelsea's long-serving captain, departed the club last summer in search of regular game time, which he has since gotten at Championship side Aston Villa.

Terry was pictured back at Chelsea's training ground on Thursday where he met Conte and some of the players although Standard Sport understands the defender regularly visits his old club and did not give a special team talk in the wake of the Blues' recent run of four losses from their last five league games.

Despite that, Conte admitted that losing such an experienced member of the dressing room, and one that Conte relied heavily on off the pitch, has created a hole in the squad which Chelsea have not yet filled.

When asked why Terry was back at Cobham on Thursday, Conte told reporters on Friday: "I think, for John, Chelsea is his home.

"He can come here when he wants. The doors are always open for him and the players who wrote the history of this club.

"It's always a pleasure to see him and have a chat. It's right, also, for the players to see again their old captain.

"John Terry's role last season was incredible. He didn't play a lot of games but, despite this, his commitment is incredible and he helped me a lot in the changing room.

"Also to use the right work in the right moment. For sure, John Terry... we are talking about a player with great experience."

Conte added: "For sure, for sure, for us it was a big loss. A big loss [to lose Terry]. I tried to keep him for another season, but he wanted to play.

"He wanted to play and I understood this. I wish to him the best for him and his family."

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