John Terry is insisting on a meeting with Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, to seek assurances about the club’s future as Manchester City were given fresh encouragement in their pursuit of the England defender.

City believe that a £35 million deal could be reached before the squad fly to South Africa for their pre-season tour on Wednesday.

Terry, the Chelsea captain, has concerns about the club being unable to attract a top player this summer, after several failed attempts, and is seeking a pay rise of about £20,000 a week, to increase his wage to about £150,000 a week — short of what he could earn at City.

Chelsea want the dispute resolved as soon as possible to avoid it becoming an unsavoury backdrop to their pre-season tour. They travel to the United States on Thursday and play the Seattle Sounders in the first of their friendly matches a week today.

Terry, 28, signed the most lucrative five-year contract in the history of English football two years ago, since when it has been outstripped by that of Frank Lampard, his team-mate. The England midfield player is paid upwards of £140,000 a week, having signed a new contract last year.

Terry met Carlo Ancelotti, the new manager, for the first time on Thursday to have talks about the forthcoming season and spoke to Eugene Tenenbaum, the club director, but no contractual offer has been made.

The defender is reluctant to make any public statements about his position until he has the chance to speak personally to Abramovich about the club’s plans. After being troubled by a back injury last season, which hampered his movement, Terry may find that the club could call his bluff.

City hope to sign Carlos Tévez, the Argentina forward who has played for Manchester United for the past two seasons, by Tuesday. They withdrew their interest in Samuel Eto’o last night after growing impatient with the Barcelona forward.

Meanwhile, Micah Richards, the City defender, is recovering after contracting swine flu while on holiday in Cyprus. Richards is “fit and well”, but will miss the beginning of the tour to South Africa.