John Terry named the 'incredible' wasted talent who could have become a Chelsea legend but is now unknown

John Terry has revealed the best talent he ever saw at Chelsea, who sadly failed to make the grade.

Terry played with some of the Premier League's all-time greats during his illustrious career at Stamford Bridge.

An academy graduate himself, Terry won five Premier League titles, six FA Cups, three League Cups, the Europa League and the Champions League with Chelsea.

The defender knows what it takes to make it to the top. There was one man in particular he was convinced would make it alongside him.

When asked if there was anyone who failed to reach their potential during an Instagram live back in 2020, Terry replied: "Probably a boy called Rob Wolleaston at Chelsea.

"He was like a midfielder/winger, had so much ability. I still know Rob now, but mentally didn't have that to go and push himself."

Wolleaston was allowed to break into Chelsea's first team under Ruud Gullit back in the 90s. He failed to do so and Terry pinpointed the moment he knew it wouldn't work out.

The 43-year-old continued: "He got chosen to train with the first team at a young age, 17 or 18, did well and Gullit told him he was going to play in the first team in a cup game.

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"He then phoned up on the day of the game and said he was sick.

"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't have given up that opportunity.

"He did it two or three times and he was just not mentally ready for the game, but ability-wise, incredible."

Wolleaston left Chelsea permanently for Bradford City in 2003 after time on loan with Bristol Rovers, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth and Northampton Town.

He'd spend the rest of his career in the lower leagues before retiring with Harrow Borough in 2014.

Terry's career could've ended up very differently too. He later admitted two clubs attempted to sign him during his time in London.

The ex-England captain continued: "During my time the only two clubs that approached me were Huddersfield when I first came through. Steve Bruce was the manager of Huddersfield.

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Chelsea accepted a bid and [Gianluca] Vialli said no. I'm very thankful to Luca for, he gave me my debut.

"Man City approached Chelsea and made an official offer. I sat with the owner, face-to-face and said 'I never want to leave Chelsea, that's a fact. If you want to sell me then it's a different story, I don't want to stay. But I'm telling you off the bat that I never want to leave this football club'.

"Within that, I was due a new contract, we shook hands on a new contract, agreed a deal and I stayed another five, six years after that."

Topics: John Terry, Chelsea, England, Premier League

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

@DanMarland_