John Terry offered chance to join Sporting Lisbon as Aston Villa eye deal for Chelsea legend

SPORTING LISBON are ready to hijack Aston Villa's bid to re-sign John Terry - if Pedro Madeira Rodrigues is elected president.

Rodrigues is one of six candidates running for the top job in Saturday's presidential election - and has his eye on bringing several high-profile players to the club.

One of them is the ex-Chelsea skipper Terry, who is wanted by Villa boss Steve Bruce.

Terry made 36 appearances for the Championship side last season as they narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs.

Two of his top targets have already slipped through his grasp - Claudio Marchisio and Yaya Toure.

The former Juventus midfielder has joined Zenit St Petersburg, while Manchester City legend Yaya Toure has signed a deal with Olympiakos.

However, Rodrigues is determined to land "a great champion" in Terry - a free agent after leaving Villa Park at the end of last season.

He told Sporting TV: "I'm very close to presenting players for Sporting already.

"If I wanted to, I could present three players today. I just won't announce them because I can't go beyond certain limits.

"I'm negotiating by the penny. They are foreigners. A left-back, a striker and a great champion - all players who have no contract."

He added: "I can say one because I've been caught up with him. It's John Terry, a great champion, a player who does not just come to win games, but comes to win games in training.

"I cannot pay him what he's used to, but I think he's very close to being our player.

"Unfortunately we lost Marchisio, he would be Sporting's player if I was president last week. On Monday we lost one to Olympiakos."