Gary Cahill
Gary James Cahill is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.
Cahill began his career playing for the AFC Dronfield youth system in Derbyshire. In 2000, he joined the Aston Villa Academy and continued his development. In 2004, he joined Burnley on a season-long loan, where he performed well before returning to make his Aston Villa debut. Later, he signed for hometown club Sheffield United on a three-month loan deal. On 30 January 2008, he signed for Bolton Wanderers for around £5 million. Cahill performed well for Bolton through the years, cementing a place in the first team. He made 130 league appearances and scored 13 league goals for Bolton. In January 2012, Cahill signed for Chelsea for approximately £7 million. He won the UEFA Champions League in his debut season at Chelsea, and went on to win the UEFA Europa League twice, the Premier League twice, the FA Cup twice and the League Cup. Following his release in 2019, Cahill joined fellow London club Crystal Palace on a free transfer. He left the club after two seasons in 2021, later joining Bournemouth, before retiring in 2022.
Cahill is a former England international with over 60 caps, and represented the nation in England tournament squads for the FIFA World Cups of 2014 and 2018, and the UEFA European Championship in 2012 and 2016, though he withdrew injured from the 2012 event. He was eligible to play for either England or the Republic of Ireland, but chose to play for England. In June 2009, Cahill was called up to the England squad for the match against Kazakhstan; however, he only made his debut on 3 September 2010, coming on as a substitute against Bulgaria. He made his first start for the national team on 29 March 2011, in the friendly against Ghana. He scored his first international goal against Bulgaria, in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier.
Early life
Cahill was born and raised in Dronfield, Derbyshire, and attended Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School. He was a boyhood Sheffield Wednesday supporter and "grew up watching Sheffield Wednesday, and points to Des Walker as his childhood hero."Club career
Early career
Cahill began his career with AFC Dronfield, a Sunday league team, where he played until he was 15. During his time there, he was scouted by a number of clubs, including Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Aston Villa, the last of which he signed for as a member of the club's Academy. "All my friends played for the local side, AFC Dronfield, so I went along and started playing centre half and in centre midfield for them", said Cahill in an interview with the Manchester Evening News. Cahill started his career as central midfielder, but moved to centre-back after rapidly increasing in height within the space of a year when he was about 15 or 16, just when he was looking to get his first YTS contract.Aston Villa
On 8 November 2004, Cahill was loaned to Burnley. He made his first-team debut the following day in the fourth round of the League Cup, playing the full 90 minutes as they lost 0–3 to Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor. On 13 November, he made his debut in the Football League, in the Clarets' 1–0 home Championship win over Nottingham Forest. He made 32 appearances on loan, 27 of which were in the league, scoring once on 3 January 2005, the only goal against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium. At the end of the season, nineteen-year-old Cahill was handed the accolade of Burnley's Young Player of the Year.Cahill made his Villa debut on 20 September 2005 in the second round of the League Cup, playing the entirety of an 8–3 win over Wycombe Wanderers away at Adams Park. On the following 1 April, he made his Premier League debut as a 52nd-minute replacement for Ulises de la Cruz in the 5–0 defeat at Arsenal. Fifteen days later, he scored his first goal, an overhead kick against rivals Birmingham City, to put Villa back into the lead as they went on to win the match 3–1.
On 19 September 2007, Cahill joined Championship team Sheffield United on a three-month loan deal. He made his debut in a 3–2 away defeat at Crystal Palace three days later, and scored his first goal for the Blades as the only one of a win at Stoke City on 10 November. On 27 November, he scored again in a 0–3 win at Charlton Athletic. Under the terms of his loan agreement, Cahill returned to Villa Park in mid-December 2007 having made 16 appearances and scoring two goals.
Speculation surrounded Cahill's future in the January 2008 transfer window, with Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers and Turkish club Beşiktaş all reportedly showing an interest.
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton scout Colin Harvey was impressed by Cahill and on 30 January 2008, Cahill joined them on a three-and-a-half-year deal. Three days later, he made his debut for Bolton in their 0–2 victory over Reading away at the Madejski Stadium.Cahill was sent off on 26 August 2008 in the second round of the League Cup, receiving a straight red card in the 38th minute for a foul on Giles Coke as the team lost 1–2 at home to Northampton Town. On 5 October, Cahill scored his first Bolton goal in a 1–3 victory at West Ham United, and he added two more over the campaign in 4–1 wins over Sunderland and Middlesbrough.
In August 2009, 18 months after joining Bolton, Cahill signed a new three-year contract with the club. He suffered a blood clot in his left arm after a training injury which forced him to pull out of the home match against Fulham on 6 February 2010; he spent the weekend in hospital. The treatment for the ailment meant that Cahill could not play for a number of months. He nonetheless cemented his place at the heart of the Bolton defence in the 2010–11 season, making 36 Premier League appearances and scoring three goals, all of which came at home.
On 13 August 2011, Cahill scored on the opening day of the 2011–12 Premier League season against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in a 4–0 victory from 25 yards out in the 45th minute. In December 2011, before the January transfer window, Bolton manager Owen Coyle admitted that Cahill may be sold as his contract will expire at the end of the 2011–12 season. Coyle said, "If he does move, there is no doubt there will be top clubs clamouring for Gary." This led much speculation that Cahill could move to higher-placed clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur, all of which showed interest. On 23 December, Coyle confirmed that they had started negotiations with Chelsea about a possible transfer, and a week later a transfer fee was agreed. Despite being on the brink of joining Chelsea, Cahill continued to play for Bolton, scoring the crucial goal in the 1–2 away win against Everton at Goodison Park on 4 January 2012. Two days after that, Coyle said that Cahill was not going to play in their FA Cup clash against Macclesfield Town, as it would leave him cup-tied for Chelsea.
Chelsea
2011–12 season
After more than two weeks, the clubs had agreed a fee for him, and on 16 January 2012 Cahill signed for Chelsea for what was believed to be around the region of £7 million, and the negotiating of personal terms. Cahill told the club's official website, "Chelsea is a massive club, it is a club that looks to win trophies season in season out and it is a big opportunity for me to be a part of that. Opportunities like this you can't turn down." He also thanked his former club and their fans, saying, "This is the right move for me at the right time and I would like to thank everyone at Bolton because I've had a great four years at the football club. My spell with Wanderers has enabled me to break into the England squad, and I would particularly like to thank the fans for their support along the way. I always appreciated their backing." He was one of Chelsea's unused substitutes in their 1–0 away victory in the 2011–12 FA Cup against West London rivals Queens Park Rangers on 28 January 2012. On 5 February, Cahill made his debut for Chelsea in the 3–3 draw against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. On 18 March 2012, he scored his first goal in a Chelsea shirt against Leicester City in the FA Cup, a 5–2 win. Cahill scored when he rose above Wes Morgan to head the ball from six yards from a Juan Mata corner, before unveiling the word's "PRAY 4 MUAMBA" on his inner T-shirt, in support of his former Bolton teammate Fabrice Muamba, who had collapsed in a match the day before. He scored his first league goal for the club in the following match, opening the scoring in a 2–1 away defeat to Manchester City. He made a substitute appearance in a 5–1 victory in the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, after David Luiz was taken off injured.Cahill started Chelsea's UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona because of the injury picked up by David Luiz in the FA Cup semi-final. The match finished 1–0, with Cahill making some crucial tackles in the second half. In the sixth minute of the second leg, Cahill stretched to win the ball and went down with a hamstring injury. Although he tried to run it off, he eventually had to be replaced by José Bosingwa in the 13th minute. Chelsea went on to win 3–2 on aggregate and set up a meeting with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final. Chelsea went on to win the season's FA Cup, beating Liverpool 2–1 at Wembley Stadium in the final, although Cahill missed the match with a hamstring injury. With the suspensions of both defenders John Terry and Branislav Ivanović, questions arose whether Cahill, along with David Luiz, would be fit for the UEFA Champions League Final to fill the gap. On 15 May 2012, he completed his first full training session after three weeks. "We've worked really hard, all day, afternoons, and I'm fortunate enough to be back," he said. "Hopefully, I'll be fit, I will be fit, and hopefully I'll be out there if selected." He started the match and was part of the squad that defeated Bayern on penalties in the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final, giving Chelsea their first ever UEFA Champions League title. He received praise for his performance especially, as he was still suffering from the injury sustained during the semi-final's second leg. During his first half-season at Stamford Bridge, Cahill appeared in 19 matches, scoring two goals and providing one assist in 1,596 minutes on the pitch.