John Terry's Chelsea departure is a 'pity,' says manager Antonio Conte

The Italian also said he does not believe that the defender will retire straight away after leaving Chelsea in the summer

John Terry has been linked with a move to China (Getty)

Antonio Conte called it “a pity” that John Terry would be leaving Chelsea in the summer after 22 years at the club.

Terry led out his champions to a guard of honour from Watford before opening the scoring during the 4-3 victory on Monday night, celebrating with tears in his eyes as the ball went in.

Gus Poyet, who is now manager of Shanghai Shenua, said earlier on Monday that Terry was “100 per cent” moving to the Chinese Super League in the summer, until a new law was introduced cutting back the number of foreigners in the league.

Be it in China or elsewhere, Conte insisted that Chelsea will always be Terry’s home and thanked him for his help during his debut season.

“First of all I am looking forward to seeing him lift the FA Cup and I think that all the players want to see this because it is the right final for John,” Conte said.

“John took this decision to play regularly, to play every game and for this reason will prefer to leave Chelsea. I don’t know where.

“It is a big loss for us because John helped me a lot in my first season. He always sent the right message to the players during the season.

“It is a pity for me but I have to respect his decision because when you arrive at this moment, your heart, head and body tells you to continue because you want to continue to play and play regularly.”

Antonio Conte on the sideline at the Bridge (Getty)

When asked if he thought Terry would retire after leaving Chelsea, Conte replied: “No, no. I think John wants to continue to play. I wish for him and his family for the best but Chelsea will always be his home John is a great man and he is a legend.”

Victory over Watford gave Chelsea their 29th win of the season, with one more handing them the record for the most wins in a single Premier League season.

And Conte said now the title is secure, his next goal is to break this record against Sunderland on Sunday.

“We won our 29th game in this league. I think it is a great achievement and a real possibility to win 30 games and we have to fight to reach this. It is important to me and to the players.

“The most important this is to win the league but when you can write these records it is important.”

Aside from breaking records, Conte’s primary goal is now to lift the FA Cup and, with 12 days to go until the final against Arsenal at Wembley, he admitted he is already planning who he will pick to start.

“You must have a plan in your mind because I think the FA Cup final,” he added. “You don’t play the final on the Saturday – you play it 10 days before and for that reason I have a plan to try to arrive and play the final in the best condition for the players.

“At the moment no [I have not picked my FA Cup final team], I must be honest. I have 12 days to make the best decision but in this moment I have 13, 14 players who want to play the FA Cup and there are many players in really good form. I will take my time in these 13, 14 days.”