Chelsea's commitment key for Terry

John Terry has admitted he sought assurances about Chelsea's ambition before declaring his commitment to the club.

The 28-year-old has been a key target of Manchester City this summer and had pointedly remained silent on the matter until releasing a statement on Sunday. In it he insisted he had never considered leaving Stamford Bridge, but the Chelsea and England captain did reveal he had been involved in "numerous discussions" with owner Roman Abramovich.

The statement said: "There has been a lot of speculation recently about my future and I want to clear this up once and for all. I am totally committed to Chelsea and always have been."

It continued: "Chelsea have also made it clear to me consistently that there was never any intention to accept any kind of offer.

"When you are linked with any club, or with a manager who I have huge respect for (in City's Mark Hughes), it will always make headlines, but me leaving Chelsea was never a possibility.

"Throughout this period there have been numerous discussions between myself, the owner and the Chelsea board and we all agreed that the timing of any statement would suit everyone involved in those talks, not any outside influences or agendas.

"What is clear to me following those discussions is that Chelsea's ambition remains as high as ever."

Terry is now hoping to get his hands on some more silverware with Chelsea this season.

In an interview with Chelsea TV, he said: "From a player's point of view we have massively missed getting our hands on the Premiership title and we've been close and haven't had a taste of that yet.

"This season we have a good feeling already, it is early days but we are playing well and that belief is back in the side. We ended last year on a high note and hopefully we can start well and push the other sides."