{"id":295566,"date":"2023-10-08T12:40:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-08T12:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=295566"},"modified":"2023-10-08T12:40:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T12:40:40","slug":"john-terry-claims-chelsea-youth-team-star-was-best-to-never-make-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/soccer\/john-terry-claims-chelsea-youth-team-star-was-best-to-never-make-it\/","title":{"rendered":"John Terry claims Chelsea youth team star was &apos;best to never make it&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>John Terry claims an ex-Chelsea youth star is &#8216;the best footballer to never make it&#8217; &#8211; and reveals the youngster called in sick on the day he was due to make his debut and featured just twice for the first team<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Former Chelsea youngster &#8216;the best to never make it&#8217; accoring to John Terry<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Talented youth teamer called in sick on the day he was set to make his debut\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast &#8216;It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!&#8217;<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>John Terry knows better than most what it takes to make the grade at a major Premier League club like Chelsea.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Having appeared 717 times for the Blues across 19 years of service, Terry is an undisputed club legend at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>The defender captained Chelsea as they won five Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the Champions League across a glittering career.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That success may never have been achieved if Terry had not grasped the opportunity when he made his debut as a 17-year-old in 1998.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He graduated from the youth ranks to make an appearance as a substitute in a League Cup tie against Aston Villa.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/09\/76297585-12607187-image-a-2_1696755558056.jpg\" height=\"953\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former Chelsea captain John Terry has revealed the most talented player from his days as a youth player who did not make the grade\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/10\/76297609-12607187-image-a-4_1696755804206.jpg\" height=\"526\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Terry made 717 appearances for the Blues across 19 years after graduating from the youth team in 1998<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>However, one of Terry&#8217;s team-mates in the underage teams was an even greater prospect according to the former England captain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When asked who was the most talented player to not make the grade In an Instagram Live in 2020, Terry responded: &#8216;He was like a midfielder\/winger, had so much ability.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He got chosen to train with the first team at a really young age, 17 or 18, did really well and [Ruud] Gullit told him he was going to play in the first team in a cup game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He then phoned up on the day of the game and said he was sick.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;All of us, if we were sick or felt like we were at the end of the world, we would have still gone and played the game, we wouldn&#8217;t have given up that opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He actually done it two or three times and he was just not mentally ready for the game, but ability-wise, incredible.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Although Terry still has a clear memory of his one-time team-mate, even Chelsea fans could be forgiven for not remembering Rob Wolleaston.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Ealing-born midfielder made his first appearance for the Blues just months after Terry, in a League Cup tie against Huddersfield Town.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gullit had left Chelsea by the time Wolleaston made his debut, meaning it was Gianluca Vialli who gave him his big break.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wolleaston made his Premier League debut for Chelsea as a late substitute against Sunderland a few weeks later.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/09\/76297571-12607187-image-a-1_1696755500562.jpg\" height=\"1031\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Wolleaston made just two appearances for Chelsea before dropping down the divisions in search of game time<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/10\/76297679-12607187-image-a-5_1696755924591.jpg\" height=\"441\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The midfielder missed the chance to make his debut under Ruud Gullit (left) after calling in sick before Gianluca Vialli (right) gave him his first appearance in 1999<\/p>\n<p>He never featured again for the club though, joining Bristol Rovers for the second part of the 1999-2000 season in the first of a series of loans away from Stamford Bridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Following spells at Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth and Northampton, Wolleaston was allowed to join Bradford City in a permanent deal in 2003.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An uneventful one-season stint at Valley Parade was followed by 12 months at Oxford United before the former youth team prodigy dropped into non-league football.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wolleaston retired in 2014 following three seasons at Harrow Borough.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12607187\/John-Terry-ex-Chelsea-youth-star-best-footballer.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Terry claims an ex-Chelsea youth star is &#8216;the best footballer to never make it&#8217; &#8211; and reveals the youngster <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>John Terry claims Chelsea youth team star was &amp;apos;best to never make it&amp;apos; - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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