John Terry's Stalled Move to Spartak Moscow Leaves Door Open to England Stay Amid Villa Interest

John Terry’s expected move to Spartak Moscow had looked set for completion over the weekend, but the Chelsea legend’s move to the Russian side is now in doubt, meaning that the defender could yet perform a U-turn and remain in England.

That is according to Sport-Express, with a report claiming that the move has hit the buffers. Terry had flown to Rome over the weekend to finalise personal terms and complete a medical to seal the deal.

Although Terry had apparently passed his medical, the deal is said to have been delayed over the 37-year-old’s concerns over himself and his family moving to Russia. The stalling of the deal could become an issue of time, with Spartak left sweating over a decision being made ahead of Friday’s deadline for the Russian Premier League registration of players.

Terry has been back in training with former club Chelsea recently, and was scheduled to feature in a charity match set up by James Milner and Stiliyan Petrov on Saturday but withdrew from the event as his move to Moscow inched closer.

Terms had been agreed with Spartak over a one-year deal with the option of a second year extension worth £1.8m in salary. Spartak had even dropped a hint over Terry’s arrival, taking to Twitter to announce that they were awaiting ‘a very important guest.’

Terry’s seal of approval seems to have been all that was missing in putting the final touches on the deal, with the former England defender having returned home on Sunday without signing the contract.

The defender will now be unable to feature for Spartak in the group stage of the Europa League, but could be registered for the knockout stages of the competition should the Russian side progress.

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The apparent impasse will give Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce a new wind, while he apparently still harbours hope of bringing Terry back to the Championship side, despite the defender opting to leave Villa Park at the end of last season after the club’s failure to win promotion back to the Premier League.

With doubts also remaining over the desire of Villa’s new owners to re-sign Terry, the future of the Premier League legend remains very much undecided.