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From the latest transfer news, quizzes, videos, features and interviews with the biggest names in the game, plus lots more.Signup +Once a week...And its LIVE!Sign up to our FREE live football newsletter, tracking all of the biggest games available to watch on the device of your choice. Never miss a kick-off!Signup +Join the clubGet full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in.Subscribe to our newsletterFormer Chelsea captain John Terry has revealed he was fit for just five of the 717 games he played for Chelsea.The defender joined Chelsea as a youth player in 1995 and stayed with the club all the way until 2017, interrupted only by a brief loan spell at Nottingham Forest and is ranked at no.26 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest Premier League players of all time.That spell encompasses five Premier League titles, five FA Cups, a Champions League, a Europa League and three League Cups, and winning the PFA Player of the Year in 2005 quite the haul. You may like Jamie Carragher would be lying on the changing room floor exhausted after every game and every training session. That was something Id never seen before Liverpool goalkeeper on why Carra went so far for the Reds If Ewood Parks undersoil heating hadn't broken, my Premier League appearance record wouldnt exist Brad Friedel recalls how Dirk Kuyt and faulty electrics both played roles in his astonishing record of 310 consecutive top-flight matches I was playing in the game when Steven Gerrard slipped. I felt sorry for him, he deserved to win at least one Premier League - maybe he could have gone to another club and won five Nemanja Matic on the Liverpool legend John Terry opens up on the hidden costs of his Chelsea careerBut such glory hasnt come for free to the former England international, often paying the price through putting his body through its paces.Its often assumed that a player taking the pitch is de facto confirmation that theyre fit and in top condition, but Terry has moved to dispel that myth.I cant tell you the amount of injections that I had to get through the next game, Terry told BetMGM. But thats because I wanted to play in every single on.I played 717 games for Chelsea and I could say, genuinely, I was 100 per cent fit for five of them.Get FourFourTwo NewsletterThe best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.When I went into a game, I rarely didnt have a rib, arm, leg, ankle or some sort of injury something always hurt.Terry puts his longevity down to that perseverance to get onto the pitch and play through the pain barrier, partly through fear that other members of the squad couldnt match his level.That was just part of being a professional football and you cant sit it out because youre ill, he continued. The games come so thick and fast and you cant afford to miss one. The player who might come in to replace you might not be at your level and in order to win titles and constantly compete, you need to be there, no matter what.In FourFourTwos opinion, Terrys determination is certainly admirable, and its clear to see why he became a captain, but this is not guidance players should take in all circumstances.In most cases, club doctors will know best its better to be out for two weeks than force your way through something and wind up being out for four and a club the size of Chelsea should always have a suitable deputy (or seven by modern standards at Stamford Bridge) to step in.That being said, you dont play 717 for any club, or in a single career, without an insatiable appetite for being present.TOPICSChelseaPremier LeagueIsaac Stacey StrongeSocial Links NavigationFreelance WriterIsaac Stacey Stronge is a freelance football writer working for FourFourTwo, Manchester United and Football League World. He has been a season ticket holder at Stockport County throughout the Hatters meteoric rise from the National League North to League One and is a die-hard Paddy Madden fan.
