John Terry: For Chelsea captain, there may be a corner of a Chinese field that is for ever the Bridge

COMMENT: Terry would be the unlikeliest British export since M&S sold ready meals to the French

When John Terry, Mr Chelsea, decided to reveal that Chelsea were not going to offer Mr Chelsea a new deal, he chose to do so at a moment, as he was well aware, when it would overshadow what Chelsea had done on the pitch. But that’s JT for you – captain, leader, legend and someone who knows how to look after No 1, or rather No 26, the number worn with distinction, interspersed with bursts of in-distinction, for 18 years.

His ability as a player able to squeeze the very best out of what he has, outlasting and outachieving many more talented individuals, demands admiration but Mr Chelsea has also squeezed plenty out of Chelsea. There was his faux flirtation with Manchester City in 2009 that helped to earn a hefty new contract at Stamford Bridge. And how much was the club’s reputation damaged by their loyal support of Mr Chelsea in the wake of his racist abusing of Anton Ferdinand? Not forgetting his occasionally robust contribution to team bonding.

Still, all good things come to an end. The suggestion he could head for China, the Middle East or the United States raises the prospect of Buckingham Palace biking round a copy of Prince Philip’s informative leaflet on respecting different cultures and practices. It conjures visions, at least in this quarter, of Terry bursting into the dressing room at his new club in, say, Shanghai with a bag filled with tinfoil containers yelling “Anyone order a Chinese?” in a well-meaning yet ultimately misguided attempt to adopt as his own the cultural sensitivities of Chinese Alan. You know, him off of Gavin & Stacey.

Terry would seem the unlikeliest British export since M&S decided to sell sandwiches and ready meals to the French. And look what happened there: Parisians lapped up chicken tikka masala and BLTs like there was no demain.

In truth, for today’s international footballer moving abroad holds few of the fears that used to startle Ian Rush round every corner in Turin, or prompt England’s cricketers to fill suitcases with baked beans before they set off for India. Now British exports even have a go at learning the language, or at least the accent – Morgen, Schteve; Bonjour, Joey – although if JT does end up in Shanghai he would be best advised not to attempt a Chinese accent. Whatever Phil might suggest.

The Hilton in LA differs little to the Hilton in Dubai or Shanghai (but not Bangkok). Top sportsmen live in a bubble through which they occasionally glimpse the real world without having actually to touch it, shepherded from luxury hotel to training ground to stadium to dodgy nightclub and back to hotel, without even having to think about it. There must be a degree of institutionalisation, albeit pampered institutionalisation – in all sport, leading players are routinely instructed in every detail of their lives, what to wear, when to be where, and what to say to the media.

England’s rugby players are each given a job to do in camp as if they were prefects or milk monitors. In a previous life this column ghostwrote the thoughts of an England rugby player. Once, while talking to him as he sat on the team coach en route into Rome from the airport, it was possible to overhear an RFU management type instructing the players to adjust their watches because they were now in a different time zone.

If Terry is seeking for a role model abroad he should look to Gareth Bale. Not only has the Welshman shone as a player in Madrid, he is also by the day looking more and more like the Home Counties imagining of a foreign footballer. One morning he will wake up as Gianluigi Buffon.

While the US would be the simplest destination – chosen by his former team-mate Ashley Cole for its relaxed gun laws – and the Middle East the dullest, moving to China would offer a whole different challenge. Sven Goran Eriksson, stacked heels worn down through all his travelling, is already there, working in his ninth country as manager of Shanghai, and is a long-time admirer of Terry’s. Or he could head to Guangzhou and a reunion with another of his bosses, Luiz Felipe Scolari. JT and the other Big Phil have teamed up in Guangzhou before. It was there Scolari oversaw his first game as Chelsea manager.

There is another reason for Terry to consider a move to Guangzhou. Chelsea and the Chinese club are partners in a football school, which combines coaching with teaching English and Chinese. Mr Chelsea could take his boots to a corner of a foreign football field that is for ever Stamford Bridge, and become Chinese John – or Tefl Terry if he helps teaching English to the Chinese students – and age into the most admired sporting Englishman abroad since CB Fry, a fellow Londoner and FA Cup finalist and a man who could leap backwards from the floor on to a mantelpiece, was offered the throne of Albania.

Or he could just head for LA to shoot the breeze, and anything else that moves, with Cole.