Chelsea do not need to sign Cole, says Terry

John Terry, the Chelsea captain, last night insisted that his club do not need to sign Arsenal's Ashley Cole as they already have a world-class left-back in Wayne Bridge.

John Terry, the Chelsea captain, last night insisted that his club do not need to sign Arsenal's Ashley Cole as they already have a world-class left-back in Wayne Bridge.

Ten clean sheets in a row would support Terry's claims that their defence is hardly in need of urgent reinforcements but Jose Mourinho has confirmed he is interested in recruiting a replacement for Celestine Babayaro, who was sold to Newcastle in the transfer window. The Chelsea manager also recently revealed his admiration for Cole.

Mourinho has chosen to side-step allegations that he was involved in an illegal meeting with the Arsenal full-back at a London hotel last month, with the Premier League currently carrying out an official inquiry. However, Terry insisted that Chelsea do not need to sign Cole, even if they had the chance to lure him from Arsenal this summer.

"'Bridgey' is a first-class player and one of the best left-backs in the world, so why do we need to go out and do that?" he said. "Ash is a great player, but if you spoke to him, I think you'd find he's Arsenal through and through.

"It's the same with me. I don't ever want to leave Chelsea. I think Ashley is the same at Arsenal. It's all about opinions. I'm not Sven Goran Eriksson's first-choice. If Mr Mourinho had the chance to buy Sol Campbell or Rio Ferdinand, would he? I don't know, you'd have to ask him that."

Terry is certainly determined to oust either Ferdinand or, more realistically, Campbell from the England side after being at the forefront of Chelsea's title campaign.

"Chelsea are my bread and butter. If I can play well for Chelsea, week in and week out, and be consistent then that's my target," he said.

"But hopefully Mr Eriksson will be watching and will choose me ahead of the other two. They're good players but it's down to me to prove him wrong. I was a bit gutted that I missed out on the friendly against Holland. I was struggling before the game with a bruised bone in my knee."

Terry's cause was helped with yesterday's presentation of the Premiership player of the month award for January, while Mourinho was given the manager's prize for the second time this season.

Chelsea's goalkeeper Petr Cech also won a special merit award for keeping 10 league clean sheets in a row. He has not conceded a goal in 961 minutes.