Football has always been the family business for Frankie Terry.

His dad, Paul, played for Dagenham & Redbridge, Yeovil and Leyton Orient, where he now works as assistant to Richie Wellens.

His maternal uncle, Paul Konchesky, earned two England caps and played 347 times in the Premier League for Charlton, West Ham, Tottenham, Fulham, Liverpool and Leicester.

And his paternal uncle, John Terry, captained both Chelsea and England. He played over 700 times for the Blues and earned 78 Three Lions caps.

It would have taken nothing to convince Frankie to follow in the footsteps of the trio, which is exactly what he did. He joined Colchester from Leyton Orient at 15 and now, at 22, is part of the first team picture in north Essex.

“From my point of view, they are just my uncles and my dad, but they were a big part of why I wanted to play football,” he tells Sky Sports.

“Watching them every week, seeing how they lived, the lifestyle they get and the way they helped my family is something that really pushes me every day.

“One uncle was a left-back and the other was a centre-half and they were both England internationals and Premier League players. There’s no two better people to look up to. I’d go pretty much every week to either Chelsea or wherever Paul was.

“The one that sticks out most was John’s last Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge, after they had won the league. That was a very proud and emotional day for the family and for him. It was a lovely send-off, but coming to the end of his Chelsea career was big.

“Even now I still ask them a lot of questions and learn a lot from them. They have lived every part of football and they know what I’m going through, so anything I need, anything I’m going through, they are one phone call or text away. They are always going to have the right advice because they’ve lived it.

“If I could have half the career of both of them, I’d be buzzing because they went on to achieve great things and are people I really look up to.”

Perhaps Terry was always destined, then, to become something of a mix of the two; he is left-footed and equally comfortable playing at left-back as he is at centre-back.

“I love heading the ball, I love tackling, I love clearing the ball. But I also enjoy the other half and playing out, like the modern-day centre-half,” he says.

“I’m a player that likes to do both, but I really enjoy defending. I think it’s an art and a really good skill.”

The Terry surname and his family connections carry understandable weight that Frankie felt “quite a bit” as a youngster, but nothing has been handed to him.

He was playing U21-level football for Colchester at 16 and went out on loan for the first time to Isthmian North side Maldon & Tiptree just after he turned 17, working under former Us player and manager Wayne Brown.

Next came a step up to the National League South with Chelmsford City in 2022/23, where he was named Supporters’ Young Player of the Year.

“The first loan was getting used to it, but the second loan was about being an established men’s player, not being looked at as an U18 or U21 player anymore. Being at Chelmsford really helped me do that,” he adds.

In 2023/24, he briefly returned to Chelmsford, then moved on to Aveley, before stepping up to the National League with Braintree Town during the first half of 2024/25 and following in his dad’s footsteps at Yeovil in the second.

Last season, after signing a new two-year contract, Terry returned to Braintree on loan and played 26 games in all competitions, scoring twice before he was recalled in early December.

He had to bide his time for a chance; in the first 15 Sky Bet League Two games after his return, Us boss Danny Cowley only played him four times.

But from April 4 to the end of the season on May 2, he did not miss a single minute. Colchester won four of those seven games, keeping two clean sheets.

“It was an opportunity I was waiting for for a long time,” Terry says.

“I’m grateful to Danny and Nicky [Cowley] for trusting me and allowing me to get that run of games. They are very honest, very genuine people who want what’s best for you. Going into this season, it’s something I really needed.

“The difference in levels between the National League and League Two isn’t as big as people think. You have the teams that have come down from League One or are about to go up to League One and there’s a difference there, but the standard is very similar and the quality of players in both leagues is very similar.

“But now I know the standard of League Two, there’s no excuse when I do play to say I haven’t played much. I played 15 games last season in League Two and it was massive for me to get that taste.”

Terry knows exactly what his aims are, both for the season ahead and beyond.

“I want at least double the amount of League Two games I got last season. I want to establish myself as a regular starter and really kick on with my career. I’m 22 now and there’s no better time for me to do that.

“But the dream is to play in the Premier League. It is every kid’s dream nowadays. If I could follow in my uncles’ footsteps, that would be unbelievable for me and my family.”

And Terry knows that while his family of footballers can give him all the tools to succeed he could ever wish for, it is down to him to utilise them.

“As I’ve grown up and established myself, I’ve come to terms with the fact I’ve actually got here by myself and I am my own player. As much as they can tell me the right things to do, I’m the one that’s actually got to step onto the football pitch and perform every week.”

His surname may start conversations, but now Frankie Terry wants his football to do the talking.

Danny Welbeck has been given permission to undergo a medical in the next 24 hours ahead of his imminent move to Chelsea.

The Brighton striker is on the verge of sealing a switch to Stamford Bridge with a deal close to being finalised.

Chelsea have turned to Welbeck, 35, as they look to add experience to manager Xabi Alonso’s squad.

The last time the west London club paid a transfer fee for a player over the age of 26 was four years ago, when they signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Barcelona.

It has been two years since Chelsea selected a player over the age of 30 in any game.

Sky Sports News reported earlier this week that initial positive talks had been held regarding a move for Welbeck who has one-year left on his contract at Brighton.

Welbeck has continued to be a reliable goalscorer in the Premier League at 35 years old. Last season he scored 13 times, after scoring 10 in the previous campaign.

His potential arrival would be another example of Chelsea prioritising physically imposing players with Premier League experience this summer.

They have already signed Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for £117m – a record fee for a British player – and are close to bringing in Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix.

It would also place further doubt on the futures of strikers Nicolas Jackson, Liam Delap and Marc Guiu.

Chelsea have signed several players from Brighton in recent seasons including their main striker Joao Pedro, plus Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella and Robert Sanchez.

A number of Brighton staff members have also moved to Stamford Bridge over the past four years, including sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Sam Jewell.

BlueCo’s drastic change in transfer policy

Analysis from Sky Sports’ Callum Bishop:

The BlueCo era at Chelsea has been defined by hoarding some of the best young talent on the planet and developing them in-house. That method has had some successes, but overall, it has not panned out.

There is clearly some recognition and accountability from the top brass about that. In bringing in Alonso as manager, they know they have lucked out in getting one of the most highly-sought-after tacticians in the game. The Spaniard has clearly identified the need for experience and the club are following his lead.

The interest in Granit Xhaka earlier in the summer was among the first signs of the shift. Even making a move for Lacroix is evidence of a change in approach.

The Welbeck move is surprising, but there is some logic that can be applied to it. Is he going to start every week? No. However, Chelsea’s four senior strikers have an average age of just 23. Combined, they have made 269 Premier League appearances and scored 74 goals.

The Brighton veteran has 400 appearances and 90 goals on his own. To have that as your back-up to the young guns you want to develop makes sense.

Jordan Henderson? That’s a complete 180 degree turn. Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are two of the more experienced players Alonso has. If you had to pick anywhere Chelsea needed a wise head, you would not say midfield.

Yet, they wanted Xhaka. They now want Henderson. Alonso may have been the man to oversee the blossoming of players like Florian Wirtz at Bayer Leverkusen. However, he clearly sees the values of opposite characters and knows Chelsea, and perhaps more importantly, he needs people ready now.

Chelsea’s key summer business so far

In

Morgan Rogers – Aston Villa, £117m

Geovany Quenda – Sporting, £43.5m

Marco Palestra – Atalanta, £43m

Denner – Corinthians, £8.7m

Dastan Satpaev – Kairat Almaty, £2.1m

Emmanuel Emegha – Strasbourg, undisclosed

Out

Marc Cucurella – Real Madrid, £51.8m

Andrey Santos – Man Utd, £50m

Tyrique George – Everton, £24m

Jimmy-Jay Morgan – West Brom, £4m

In the meantime, she is in Glasgow for the next few days to revel in an event which looked like it might not happened at all not all that long ago.

And she says that what the city has done in the 18 months since agreeing to take on the Games when the Australian state of Victoria withdrew has set a template for future multi-sport events.

“It’s not the big shiny games that we’ve had in previous years, but it’s been done on tight timeframes so I think they’ve done well to pull it together,” McColgan said.

“Glasgow has stepped up. And I hope that other countries now see that it doesn’t need to have this huge, huge budget to make it work. We don’t need brand-new infrastructure or stadiums and all the athletes staying in a big village.

“There’s still mass-market appeal. And I do hope this gives the Games a bit of life to continue, because it would be sad to lose it, and lose the opportunity to represent Scotland.

“Growing up, I didn’t have a lot of confidence. For me, making a Scotland team felt like it might be doable because there’s a smaller number of people to get selected. That’s what the Games can do.”