The 28-year-old has been a high-profile target of Manchester City this summer and had pointedly remained silent on the matter until releasing a statement yesterday.

In it he insisted he had never considered leaving Stamford Bridge, but the Chelsea and England captain did reveal he had been involved in "numerous discussions" with owner Roman Abramovich, who assured Terry key personnel would be retained.

The statement said: "There has been a lot of speculation recently about my future and I want to clear this up once and for all.

"I am totally committed to Chelsea and always have been.

"Chelsea have also made it clear to me consistently that there was never any intention to accept any kind of offer.

"When you are linked with any club, or with a manager who I have huge respect for (in City's Mark Hughes), it will always make headlines, but me leaving Chelsea was never a possibility.

"I know there has been comment that I should have made a statement earlier.

"However, throughout this period there have been numerous discussions between myself, the owner and the Chelsea board and we all agreed that the timing of any statement would suit everyone involved in those talks, not any outside influences or agendas.

"What is clear to me following those discussions is that Chelsea's ambition remains as high as ever.

"This has been further proved by the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti (as manager). I am certain that he will take this club on to the next level.

"Another important factor was knowing that Chelsea would be securing key current players for the long term. The strengthening of the squad around this core is crucial to pushing us on to greater success.

"I am as committed as ever to helping drive Chelsea forward and I will be proud to lead the team as long as I can."

Terry is now hoping to get his hands on some more silverware with Chelsea this season.

In an interview with Chelsea TV, he said: "From a player's point of view we have massively missed getting our hands on the Premiership title and we've been close and haven't had a taste of that yet.

"This season we have a good feeling already, it is early days but we are playing well and that belief is back in the side.

"We ended last year on a high note and hopefully we can start well and push the other sides."

Terry's decision means City must look elsewhere for their marquee defensive signing.

City, who have already tempted Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz and Gareth Barry to Eastlands this summer, had two bids for the England skipper turned down by the Blues.

Hughes may now choose to up his pursuit of Everton's Joleon Lescott, for whom City have already had a bid turned down, while Arsenal's Kolo Toure and Matthew Upson of West Ham are other potential targets.