Gary Cahill has admitted that his final season as a Chelsea player was “horrible”. The veteran defender was deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge last season despite being club captain.
All in all, he made just two Premier League appearances and four Europa League appearances. Cahill was very clearly a player past his prime last season though he is still good enough to play at the highest level. The amount of appearances that he made clearly indicated that he was not wanted at the West London club. Some critics of Sarri will feel that he should at least have been used as a squad rotation player.
Cahill was linked with a winter move away from the Blues last January but opted to stay at Stamford Bridge and try to fight to reclaim his place in the team. After failing to do that, ran down his contract with the Blues and ended up joining Crystal Palace on a free transfer this summer.
“I think you never saw on the outside how tough it was, to be honest,” Cahill told Sky Sports.
“It’s something I never want to get used to, I’ve played a heavy part in every season I’ve been at that club, so it was a freak [season].
“It’s erased out of my life, it was a horrible year but I won’t remember it in my career at Chelsea, I’ll remember all the seasons before that and how successful they were.
“The situation was always going to end in me leaving, it’d gone too far one way, especially with the manager there, it was always going to happen.”
Chelsea fans must remember Cahill for the good times
His time at the club may have not ended on the best of notes but Cahill must be remembered for the good that he did at Stamford Bridge. He was so loved by the club that he was selected to succeed the legendary John Terry as club captain during the summer of 2017. All in all, Cahill spent eight successive seasons at Stamford Bridge and was only not a first team regular during his final season with the club. He ended his time at Chelsea with 290 professional appearances to his name and 25 goals. He also helped the team to win two Premier League titles, two FA Cups, one League Cup and one Champions League.
Crystal Palace will be hoping that they can use the experience of Cahill well this season as it looks like they may need to battle relegation once again.
