Former Chelsea captain John Terry will begin working with the club’s academy in January in a consultancy role.

Terry, who won 17 trophies over a glittering 19-year career at Stamford Bridge, has been out of work after leaving Aston Villa on the eve of the new season.

This was in order to pursue a managerial career but that has yet to come to fruition.

The 41-year-old has now agreed to return to his boyhood club in a part-time position.

This is where he will combine an on-field coaching role with mentoring of the club’s academy players.

Terry, who will continue with other commitments alongside the role, expressed his delight at returning to the European champions.

“I’m delighted to announce that I’m coming home, and have taken up a consultancy role @ChelseaFC academy,” Terry tweeted.

“As well as delivering on-field coaching sessions I will be involved in coaching discussions and mentoring our academy players.”

Chelsea’s head of youth development, Neil Bath, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming John back to Cobham in a role that will involve coaching and mentoring the next generation of young players in our Academy.

“It goes without saying that John’s experience in the game, both as a world-class player and more recently as an assistant coach in the Premier League, will be invaluable for everyone in the building.

“He will be a great mentor for our players and a fantastic asset to our coaching staff. We can’t wait for him to get started.”

Terry joined the club as a 14-year-old, making 717 appearances, 500 of them as captain. He won five English Premier League (EPL) titles and a UEFA Champions League.

He left in 2017 to join Aston Villa where he went on to become Dean Smith’s assistant before leaving in July in the hope of landing a managerial position.

(dpa/NAN)