John Terry: 'Father figure' Jose Mourinho will drop me if I don't maintain Chelsea form

The Chelsea captain has enjoyed a resurgence in his career since Mourinho returned to the club in 2013 for his second spell at the club with the central defender helping Chelsea claim the Premier League and League Cup last season.

Despite rediscovering some of his very best levels of consistency, Terry, 34, is not assuming he will be always be a first-choice pick at the club he has represented for the past 20 years.

He has agreed a new one-year contract extension, a scenario that looked unlikely when Rafael Benitez was content to drop him for some matches.

"I am not taking anything for granted," said Terry. "The manager has said that, if I can keep my form, I am in the side but, if I don't keep my form, he will have no qualms about taking me out and putting someone else in.

"We have an honest relationship. I don't doubt that he trusts me. I hopefully can repay that because he has been superb to me.

"I will give him everything and he has been a father figure in my career so I owe him an awful lot. I realise one day that my career will come to an end so I want to give everything these next few years.

"Every summer I work more or less every day to give myself the best chance. If it comes to that point where I am left out of the side, I know it's not through any fault of not trying. To look at myself in the mirror and my family, that is all I do in my career."

Terry would prefer to take the Steven Gerrard route to Los Angeles and leave the Premier League when he departs Chelsea rather than the Petr Cech decision to move to Arsenal and face meeting Chelsea in competitive action.

"I could handle being out of the team. No doubt, people like me and Steven want to play, of course. That is our natural instinct. When you play your whole career, it's hard.. Petr Cech was a model professional last year and that is why he got the move he wanted, because of how well he reacted around the place.

"I have seen other players go the other way. I certainly would go down the Petr route and continue giving everything to the squad. If I then felt Chelsea were going to release me or thought I had nothing else to give, but I thought I could, then of course I would still want to continue to play but that would not be in the Premier League."

It is a shame from England's point of view that John Terry is no longer available for selection. He is quite simply a superb defender, whose outstanding positional sense more than makes up for any lack of pace. Mourinho must take real credit for getting Terry back to the levels he was at during his first spell as Chelsea manager in the noughties.

Chelsea may well have progressed to carry off the treble last season, but it was telling that Terry was rested for the capitulation against Bradford in the FA Cup at home. He brings leadership and a heartbeat to Mourinho's Chelsea. And there are not too many better than Terry in organising a defence in world football.