Aston Villa boss Dean Smith insists no one has approached them to offer John Terry a clerical job.
However, Smith stated that he would not get in the way of Terry’s departure if the time was right, amid informed interest in his assistant manager from Bournemouth and Celtic.
The Cherries, sixth in the Sky Bet Championship, are looking for a new coach after firing Jason Tindall last week, while Neil Lennon is under intense scrutiny at Celtic.
Terry, who was appointed Smith’s assistant head coach in October 2018, was previously linked to the Bristol City job last summer, but remained with Villa, who has made great strides in the Premier League this season.
Smith said: “For someone to leave one football club and go to another, they need to contact us, and they haven’t contacted us, so…
“I haven’t really talked to JT about it, to be honest. The conversations I’ve had with JT is that when it suits everyone (he can leave).
“I’ve always said from the beginning that John Terry came here to learn about coaching and he has become a very, very good assistant director for me. But ultimately, he has come to learn the trade to become number one.
“He wants to get into management, but there has to be the right time and the right club for him, and it must also be the right time for Aston Villa.
“JT has been part of that conversation throughout the process, so we are doing great.”
Smith doesn’t get carried away
Villa, who only survived relegation last season on the final day of the campaign, heads to Brighton on Saturday ninth in the table, with games in hand in all but one of the teams above them.
Winning both games in hand they have over Chelsea and Liverpool could see Smith’s team rise above both clubs to fourth in the standings.
But Villa’s coach does not get carried away and says: “It is a mere distraction at the moment since we have only played 21 games. There is still a long way to go and we still haven’t played Everton or Tottenham in the league.
“There are games that we have not played due to Covid-19 this season, so it has been a strange but good one in terms of our consistency.
“We’ve been a bit up and down in our last couple of performances, very good against Arsenal and not so good against West Ham. The performance against Arsenal is more than we want to see from our players. “
Smith has no new concerns about his fitness after the home win against Arsenal. Defender Kortney Hause (foot) is unlikely to return before the end of the month, while forward Wesley (knee) is not yet close to returning after 13 months out.
January signing Morgan Sanson awaits his full debut with the club and Douglas Luiz will await a retirement after being an unused substitute against the Gunners.
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