Chelsea's new boss Carlo Ancelotti has won his first major battle as head of the club by keeping skipper John Terry.
Terry is poised to sign a new 150,000 pounds-a-week Chelsea deal, which moves him alongside Frank Lampard as top earner.
Megabucks Manchester City targeted the England ace as their next major coup. And despite some in the Stamford Bridge corridors of power thinking Terry was dispensable, Ancelotti took matters into his own hands.
Having talked to Terry before the current American tour and again after the victory over Seattle on Sunday, the Italian demanded that he be retained.
It was clear to Ancelotti that Terry never wanted to leave despite staggering suggestions of a 250,000 pounds-a-week contract at City, The Sun reports.
A source close to Ancelotti said: "No one asked Carlo to get involved in the Terry situation but he wanted to find out what was in the player's heart."
In the first meeting at the club's training ground, Terry told his new boss that he wanted to stay at Chelsea until the end of his career.
"That meeting was very important as it made Carlo go back to the directors and ask what the solutions were. At that point, though, the club did not seem willing to make the first move so Carlo decided to get more information before going any further," they added.
Ancelotti canvassed other senior players on what the impact would be if Terry was allowed to leave.
