Rafael Benítez says he plans to rotate his Chelsea squad Press Association

Rafael Benítez has admitted John Terry could travel to the Club World Cup before making his Chelsea comeback.

The interim manager revealed on Friday that the captain is pushing him to return from the knee injury that has sidelined him for almost three weeks. But the Spaniard is not prepared to risk the defender in Saturday's Premier League game at West Ham United or Wednesday's Champions League clash with Nordsjaelland.

Chelsea have one more match after that before they fly to Japan – where they start their bid to be crowned world champions on 13 December – next weekend's trip to Sunderland.

Asked if Terry could travel without having returned, Benítez said: "Yeah, it could be. It's a question of confidence. When you forget you have that problem in your knee is when you are ready.

"He's pushing – 'I want to be there, I want to be involved' – but still he will need some time. It's a knee, not just a muscle. You have to see the reaction when you turn. You cannot put him in a position where he could get injured again."

Terry has seen only 130 minutes of first-team football since the beginning of October due to a combination of his racism ban and injury. Benítez, however, has been impressed by the 31-year-old's mentality.

He said: "Early this morning, he was in front of me walking on to the pitch and he didn't know I was following him. Three young players were coming along and the way he approached them was quite positive."

Frank Lampard could also travel to the Club World Cup before returning from the calf problem that has ruled him out for more than a month.

Benítez admitted Chelsea had missed their captain and vice-captain, whose absences coincided with the alarming slump that saw Roberto Di Matteo sacked as manager. He said: "You have to analyse what has been happening in the last month, but you can see these players with this character and leadership can be helpful when things are wrong."

Chelsea's five-hour, 21-minute goal drought can be blamed partly on an even longer famine for Fernando Torres, who has found the net only once in almost two months – and that was a fluke. In the Premier League alone, the £50m striker has now gone 10 hours and 49 minutes without scoring, with the arrival of his former manager at Liverpool doing little to improve his fortunes.

Benítez admitted this week that Torres had lost some of the pace that made him one of the best strikers in the world. That prompted the former Olympic 4x100 metres champion Darren Campbell to offer to coach the 28-year-old in the art of sprinting, having worked briefly with the Spaniard last year.

But Benítez, who has prescribed Torres weight-training sessions in order to improve his strength, said: "It's interesting to have different ideas, but we have very good staff here. It's different running and running with the ball on the pitch, 11 against 11.

"[The World Cup-winning manager César Luis] Menotti, a famous Argentinian coach, said a sprinter has to run very fast, and when he reaches the line, he finishes. A striker has to run very fast to get the ball and then his game starts."