The Senegalese international, who joined the Blues this summer from Napoli, wore the No.26 during his time in Naples and has, according to his own social media channels, requested to wear the same squad number for his first season in the Premier League.

The defender, who joined up with the Blues for the Las Vegas leg of our pre-season tour of America, phoned our former skipper to see if he was okay with him taking his old shirt number, to which JT was more than happy to pass over.

Unlike in American sports, where it is customary to retire the shirt number of an all-time great, it’s very rare for a Premier League club to take a number out of circulation, otherwise it’s clear that the No.26 would have been a no-go for any Chelsea player from the moment JT left the club in 2017.

We know you’re all fully acquainted with the achievements of the man known for years as our captain, leader, legend, and hopefully by now you’re up to speed with the new wearer, Koulibaly – if not, you can read all about the Senegalese international here.

Instead, we invite you to join us on a brief journey back to the mid-to-late Nineties, a time when Terry was still making his way through the ranks with the Blues, to find out about the four players who previously wore the No.26 shirt for the club.

Andy Dow

Over the years, many have credited Glenn Hoddle with awakening the sleeping giant that was Chelsea Football Club back in 1993. Along the way he brought in players we could only dream of seeing in blue, such as Ruud Gullit and Mark Hughes, but one of his first signings was a defender who flew under the radar of all but the most ardent of Blues fans.

Dow was a Scotland Under-21 international who Hoddle signed from Dundee, and the new Chelsea player-manager immediately entrusted him with a first-team place in his new-look side.

It proved to be a short-lived stint in the Stamford Bridge spotlight for the full-back, however, as he made just 18 appearances for the club, although two of them were 1-0 home wins over Manchester United and Liverpool.

He can perhaps console himself with the fact that he became the first No.26 in the club’s history, as squad numbers were introduced for the first time in the 1993/94 campaign, and he’s the only man other than JT to wear it for more than one season – although hopefully that’s about to change…

Michael Duberry

Much like the man who made the No.26 shirt at Chelsea so revered, Duberry came through the ranks at Stamford Bridge with the world at his feet.

He was a centre-back blessed with seemingly all the qualities needed to make it at the very top, namely the pace and aerial ability to allow him to deal with the dual threats offered up by Premier League strike partnerships when he came through in 1994.

A sign of his early progress was that he moved from wearing 28 on his back in his first season to taking on 26 in 1995/96, a campaign when he began to live up to his promise, including a call-up to the England Under-21s squad – although he was just pipped to Chelsea’s Young Player of the Year award by his good mate Jody Morris.

Unlike JT, Doobs decided to leave No.26 behind after one season, as he stepped up to take the No.12 shirt for his remaining seasons at the club. Was that his downfall as a Blue? Almost certainly not. Injuries began to hold him back, as did a string of world-class centre-half signings, but he still played in our two European trophy triumphs in 1998, before leaving for Leeds United a year later.

Neil Clement

The surname Clement is probably more familiar to Chelsea supporters when paired with the name Paul, who spent a number of years working at the club in a coaching capacity, most memorably as part of Carlo Ancelotti’s Double-winning backroom staff.

It wasn’t always this way, though, as once upon a time his younger brother Neil was making a big impression in the youth set-up at the club. He was part of the group that included the aforementioned Morris that were tipped to make an impression on the first team, but opportunities didn’t come his way too often. As we’ve already covered with Duberry, some big-name stars already occupied the defensive positions in the side.

He took on the No.26 shirt for the 1996/97 season and debuted in a famous win over West Ham United in which Gianfranco Zola announced himself as a Chelsea legend in the making with a dazzling display against Julian Dicks. Three domestic cup appearances followed for Clement, but that was as good as it got for the youngster at the Bridge.

The hard-as-nails defender became far more recognisable to supporters of West Bromwich Albion, where he spent the best 10 years of his career and helped the Baggies to Premier League promotion on no fewer than three occasions.

Laurent Charvet

We’ve had our fair share of famous Frenchmen over the past 25 years, many of whom have played their part in the various trophy successes we’ve had in that time. While Charvet might not fit the first part of that billing, he was a winner of two domestic cup competitions during a six-month loan spell with the club in the 1997/98 season.

Taking on the No.26 shirt – the last player to do so before Terry – Charvet joined us from Cannes and offered adequate back-up on the right-hand side of defence. He played in the semi-finals of both the League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup and though he made only 13 appearances for the club, he hit the back of the net twice, albeit in two defeats.

Although Gianluca Vialli chose not to make his loan deal permanent in the summer of 1998, Charvet remained in the Premier League as he joined a Newcastle United side where he was soon to be reunited with the man who signed him for Chelsea, Ruud Gullit. Under the Dutchman, he appeared in the club’s FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United.

Chelsea squad numbers for the upcoming season are to be officially confirmed this week, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Everton for the opening Premier League game of the season.