London: Chelsea captain John Terry may yet be offered a new deal despite announcing his departure from the club, a spokesman for the Premier League champions said.
Terry, 35, announced on Sunday that he will leave Chelsea when his current deal expires at the end of the season because the club has not offered him a new contract.
But a club spokesman said late on Sunday: "John requested a meeting with the club the week before last. In that meeting he asked about the possibility of an extension to his existing contract.
"John was advised that while no new deal was currently on the table, that situation could change in the coming months. The club has the utmost respect for John and everything he has helped us achieve to date.
"He is a fantastic servant of Chelsea Football Club and a superb captain and, as such, the club will keep the channels of dialogue open."
Terry, who has made 696 Chelsea appearances and is the club's most successful captain, had expressed disappointment that there would be "no fairytale ending" for him at Stamford Bridge.
His former team-mate Frank Lampard paid tribute to the ex-England captain, posting a picture of the pair on Instagram accompanied by the simple caption: "#captain #legend #chelsea #winner @johnterry.26"
The prospect of Terry leaving has dismayed the club's fans, for whom he is an emblematic figure.
Trizia Fiorellino, chair of the Chelsea Supporters Group, told BBC radio: "It seems a very strange time to do it and given that we've got no manager at the moment -- we've got an interim manager (Guus Hiddink) -- who has made this decision for John Terry to go?
"He played every minute of every league game last season and we won the title. It's just all very peculiar, very strange, and I think the club owe us an explanation."
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