TERRY SAYS GOODBYE..

JOHN TERRY became the first casualty of Aston Villa’s battle to fill a £45million black hole as he announced he was leaving the club.

The former England captain, 37, is expected to receive offers from China and the USA after confirming that last Saturday’s Championship play-off final defeat by Fulham was his farewell appearance.

Villa face swingeing cuts to comply with financial fair play rules after being condemned to a third season in the Championship by Tom Cairney’s Wembley winner.

Terry’s parting of the ways with Villa after 12 months was inevitable after he left Wembley telling team-mates to “keep in touch”.

His £60,000-a-week wages were an obvious move towards austerity and the sale of leading players – including England Under-21 star Jack Grealish (above) – could follow.

Terry wrote on Instagram: “I’m very proud to have had the opportunity to captain this great and huge club. I have given everything this year on and off the pitch and I am still hurting today that we never managed to get back to the Premier League, where this club 100 per cent belongs.

“I would like to thank Steve Bruce, who was instrumental in me joining Villa – I have learnt so much from him as a manager this season that will stay with me forever. Also, I’d like to thank the staff and players.

“And finally, a special thank you to the Villa supporters who supported us home and away in their thousands.

“Villa will always have a place in my heart and I will look back on my time here and think about how close we were to reaching our goal.” Financial blog The Swiss Ramble estimates Villa missed a £143m jackpot by failing to regain Premier League status and will need to find £45m of savings this summer.

Villa chairman Dr Tony Xia admitted: “We are all aware we face severe FFP challenges next season.

“We have been heavily investing for the past two seasons. However, the loss on Saturday means we need to change a lot of things.”

JOE HART could be offered a lifeline by Sporting Lisbon.Sporting need a new goalkeeper to replace Portugal’s No.1 Rui Patricio, who is joining Napoli.Hart (right) is desperate to get his career back on track after a loan spell at West Ham.He is due to have talks with Manchester City over his future but Sporting would want them to heavily subsidise his £140,000-a-week salary. SOUTHAMPTON manager Mark Hughes is ready to make German defender Tobias Pachonik his first signing. Right-back Pachonik has let his contract with Italian Serie B side Carpi run down. Hughes sees Pachonik as back-up for Cedric Soares.

BURNLEY lead the race to sign old boy JayRodriguez from West Brom – but must see off Premier League rivals.The Clarets tried to land Rodriguez (left) when he moved to West Brom from Southampton for £12million, but could not agree personal terms.The board will bankroll a fresh bid by boss Sean Dyche to bring Rodriguez back home to Burnley.But Eddie Howe wants him at Bournemouth, and West Ham and Crystal Palace are also interested.

PAYING THE PRICE Failure at Wembley means Villa cannot afford to keep John Terry