John Terry says he would never follow Frank Lampard and Petr Cech in playing for another English club and believes he has “at least a couple of years” left at Chelsea.

The 34-year-old central defender defied all expectations last season by playing every minute of the title-winning campaign and also captaining the team to their Capital One Cup win in May.

This month Cech completed a move to Arsenal, a switch Terry has stressed he would never contemplate. Having seen Lampard and Steven Gerrard leave England for the US in the past 12 months, Terry has hinted he could finish his career abroad.

“Every summer I work more or less every day to give myself the best chance. If it comes to that point where I am left out of the side I know it’s not through any fault of not trying. To look at myself in the mirror and my family, that is all I do in my career,” he said.

“I could handle being out of the team. No doubt, people like me and Steven want to play, of course. That is our natural instinct. When you play your whole career, it’s hard. Petr Cech was a model professional last year and that is why he got the move he wanted, because of how well he reacted around the place.

“I have seen other players go the other way. I certainly would go down the Petr route and continue giving everything to the squad. If I then felt Chelsea were going to release me or thought I had nothing else to give, but I thought I could, then of course I would still want to continue to play. But that would not be in the Premier League.”

His availability would certainly provide MLS franchises with an intriguing conundrum. Designated player spots are almost exclusively saved for attacking talent, one reason why the defending often leaves much to be desired.

Terry, who received an elbow in the head from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Saturday’s penalty shootout win over Paris Saint-Germain, is now focused solely on the present with Chelsea and is intent on helping deliver more silverware in the coming season.

“I am not taking anything for granted. The manager has said if I can keep my form, I am in the side. But if I don’t keep my form he will have no qualms about taking me out and putting someone else in,” he said.

“We have an honest relationship. I don’t doubt that he trusts me. I hopefully can repay that because he has been superb to me. I will give him everything. And he has been a father figure in my career so I owe him an awful lot. I realise one day that my career will come to an end so I want to give everything these next few years.”

While Premier League rivals such as Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool have spent heavily this summer – with Raheem Sterling’s £49m move to City the most eye-catching – Chelsea have watched on with interest safe in the knowledge the squad needs only minor adjustments.

“Sterling was one of the best players I came up against last year. He caused a lot of problems and I think he is going to be a big player for them,”Terry said.

“It is a lot of money but what other English player could you go out and buy? For me, he was one of the best players in the league. There were things that he did not perhaps handle well but he is a young kid who wants to play right at the very top.

“And through no fault of his own he has had to go and do that at Manchester City because Liverpool did not make that grade last year. So I understand where he has come from and wish him well because I think he’s a top English player. Forget the money.

“I thought the way we played and the way we won [the Premier League], staying top all year, showed how good we were. I think a lot of [our rivals] needed to strengthen and they have done that. And I think they will come back a lot hungrier, ready and believing they can catch us and even overtake us.

“Yes, I think we forced other clubs to step up. And maybe clubs have had to put £5m more on players than they thought they had to because how good we were last year has forced them into that.”