Terry will stay insists Kenyon

(GETTY IMAGES)

Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, claimed yesterday that he had received a personal assurance from John Terry that he would not be tempted by Manchester City's astronomical pay offer.

Kenyon, who attended the presentation of new manager Carlo Ancelotti at Stamford Bridge yesterday, said that Terry had told him he was staying. "He [Terry] is not available at any price," Kenyon said. "He's got a three-year contract. He's told us he doesn't want to go and we don't want him to go. End of story."

However there has been no public statement yet from Terry on his future following the offer from City who had a £30m bid turned down on Thursday. The Chelsea captain is understood to have been offered wages of between £150,000 and £200,000 a week plus bonuses to join City. The Chelsea hierarchy are eager that Terry makes a declaration on his future soon.

In the meantime, Chelsea are exploring the possibility of signing Real Madrid's Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder who has become available for around £15m, having joined Real two seasons ago. The club's hierarchy are less keen on Andrea Pirlo, one of Ancelotti's players at Milan, because they regard the 30-year-old as being too old for the price quoted.

Ancelotti said yesterday that he wanted Terry to stay. "He is a symbol [of Chelsea]" he said. "Terry has said he wants to stay for ever at Chelsea and we want to keep him for ever. There is no price for Terry. Terry will be captain of Chelsea for ever. "I think that there's no need to convince him because he wants to stay. I will speak with him but not about this. I want to have a good relationship with him. I don't want to speak about other issues because there aren't other issues. There is not this question, to sell or not to sell. He stays here for sure."

Asked whether he could envisage Terry, who is contracted at the club until 2012, being given an improved deal, Ancelotti said that the decision was out of his hands. "It's the same answer. It's not my problem. Luckily, I only have technical [football] problems. Financially, there is great knowledge in our management to do this. It's not my problem."

Ancelotti said yesterday that Kaka had not left Milan for City in January because "football is not only money, salaries ... it's emotions, it's passion. Many other things."