Guus Hiddink has no doubt that John Terry is capable of continuing his career at Chelsea next season, but will have no influence over the captain's future.
Terry's contract expires at the end of the season and he is yet to be sign a new one, meaning he may have played his final game for Chelsea after his red card in Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Sunderland.
The Blues captain's sending-off resulted in a two-match ban that extends the rest of the Premier League campaign.
Terry has since come out to say he hopes to play out the last couple of years in his career at Stamford Bridge, but neither Hiddink nor Chelsea's board have offered a definitive answer on the defender's future.
Hiddink stated he remains none the wiser about what direction the club will take regarding a renewal, telling reporters: "When I make a judgement on how he plays and his fitness, at his age, then he's able to play and continue.
"But it's up to the club, not for me to make declarations on that. When you come on the pitch for training after being sent off it's not the most beautiful thing, of course.
"In training he started to lift up his morale and trained okay. Of course not being there in the last two games is a blow for him and for us of course as well.
"Yeah, that could have been the last game but that's not up to me [to decide]."
Asked whether Terry would make a good coach in the future, Hiddink added: "The other day we were sitting next each other before the game in Bournemouth and we discussed about sitting on that spot. It felt good.
"John is very keen - he has always been a leader and tactically you can always rely on him. He can make that step, though you need time to switch off from your career in my experience."
...
- Goal