Gary Cahill is considering leaving Chelsea in January having become frustrated by his absence from Maurizio Sarri’s team. Four months on from captaining the club to FA Cup glory, as well as to fifth in the Premier League, the defender has yet to play under the Italian and is giving serious thought to making a “tough decision” regarding his future.
Cahill has made more than 280 appearances for Chelsea since arriving from Bolton in 2012 and helped the club win honours including two Premier League titles, the Champions League and two FA Cups, the most recent via a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in May. Cahill played the entire game, Antonio Conte’s last as Chelsea manager, and lifted the trophy at Wembley before joining up with England’s World Cup squad.
He returned from Russia just before the start of the season and has found himself in the shadows at Stamford Bridge, failing to make the squad for any of Chelsea’s five Premier League games, all of which have been won. He remained on the bench throughout Thursday’s Europa League win at PAOK Salonika when, despite the absence of David Luiz, Sarri chose Andreas Christensen to partner Antonio Rüdiger in central defence.
“Having been a big part of things for six years, I’m finding it difficult to deal with this situation,” Cahill said. “A lot of things have been running through my head. We had such a good experience at the World Cup and I’d never take that back. The flip side is I came back a week before the season started against three defenders who’d been back plenty of time before me.
“To learn a new way of defending and new ideas – I’m sure [Sarri] didn’t feel comfortable putting me in and so I fully expected to miss the start of the season, and we’ve not lost, so there’s no arguments from my point of view. But at the same time, thinking back to when Petr Cech was at the club – when Thibaut [Courtois] came he found it difficult to get game time but he knew he could play week in, week out. I’m in a similar situation.”
Cahill’s contract expires next summer. Asked whether he could leave during the January transfer window the 32-year-old replied: “I don’t want to jump the gun but as things stand, probably yes. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions. I did that when I was at Villa all those years ago. If I had been patient maybe I would’ve played in that first team but I wanted to take the decision to go and play regularly. As it is, I’m not enjoying things. That’s just me.”
Cahill has not spoken with Sarri regarding his lack of involvement but insists he has no personal issues with the 59-year-old and is prepared to see “how the land lies” for a while longer. The manager could select Cahill for Sunday’s trip to West Ham. However the player’s impatience will only increase should he be left out again, especially given his decision to effectively retire from international duty partly so he could concentrate on club duties.
“I’m in great condition, I’ve not wasted the time when I haven’t been playing,” Cahill said. “I’ve been training even harder, in the gym, and I know I can play week-in, week-out. Not a problem. I’m proud of what I’ve done here and what I’ve achieved in such a short space of time … Now I have to take charge of my own future and I just hope the club will respect that when it comes to the time. For me to do this all season is going to be very difficult.”
