Former Manchester United full-back Gary Neville has questioned the timing of John Terry's announcement that he will leave Chelsea at the end of the season.

The 36-year-old will end a 22-year association with the club this summer having made 713 appearances to leave him third on the all-time list.

However, the announcement came in the wake of a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United that left Chelsea only four points clear of title hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur, and Neville believes that Terry could still have a pivotal role to play this season.

"The news of Terry leaving is incredibly strange timing, I don't get it at all. I'm not really sure who it suits, maybe John Terry a little bit, but I'm not even sure about that," he told Sky Sports News.

"It may be a distraction for the dressing room, the club and the fans will be sad today especially after the big game they lost yesterday. Maybe he's signed a pre-agreement with somebody and they couldn't keep it quiet any longer.

"They haven't kept a clean sheet for quite a bit now and I think he could be quite useful for them. If they needed someone with experience in this last month to get them over the line, he might be the man they need to call on. He's got the experience, the resilience, the robustness and that toughness which would get his team-mates over line. He may be Chelsea's most important player in the next few weeks."

Terry has won 16 trophies during his time with Chelsea, including four Premier League titles and the 2012 Champions League.