LONDON -- Interim Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink says he is not aware of John Terry's reported plans to hold a farewell party at Stamford Bridge but said he hopes he will be invited.
Terry is set to leave Chelsea when his contract expires this summer after being informed in January that no offer of an extension was forthcoming, though the club have insisted that "channels of dialogue" remain open and new first-team coach Antonio Conte will have the final say on the 35-year-old's future.
A report in the Daily Mail on Friday claimed that Terry has splashed out £22,000 on hiring the Stamford Bridge pitch next week to host a farewell party, having resigned himself to the fact that Chelsea will not offer him a new deal.
Asked about the report in a press conference on Friday, Hiddink replied: "Then I hope I will be invited! I don't know [whether it is true]. You have to ask him."
As it stands, Terry's final match as a Chelsea player will be when newly crowned champions Leicester City visit Stamford Bridge on the last day of the Premier League season, and Hiddink says that his team -- who ended Tottenham Hotspur's faltering title challenge with a 2-2 draw on Monday -- will pay due respect to their opponents.
"First of all I like to win, then we give the guard of honour -- or the other way around," the Dutchman added. "But of course when a team is unexpectedly in first position they deserve a guard of honour."
Chelsea face struggling Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Saturday knowing that despite having nothing more than pride to play for themselves, they can still have a big impact on the Premier League's relegation fight.
Hiddink is adamant that he will pick a strong team for the match out of respect for the integrity of the league.
"It's important -- first of all for ourselves, with nothing at stake in terms of silverware but for the pride and enjoyment of football," he said. "Second, all the teams who are fighting relegation deserve the same approach. There's no guarantee that we can win but we go for a win.
"Also I'm not for changing a lot of the team -- making six or seven changes, giving six or seven kids from the academy a chance. That would not be fair to the other teams we're approaching in the last games.
"The usual [youngsters] who are with us [will play]. Given the situation, it doesn't seem fair that we have a serious approach to the Tottenham game and not for the others."