Gary Cahill

Gary James Cahill (born 19 December 1985 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire) is an English footballer who plays as a centre back for Premier League club Bolton Wanderers and the England national football team.

Cahill was born in Sheffield and started playing for the AFC Dronfield youth set-up in Derbyshire, where he played well, was scouted by various club's and subsequently joined the Aston Villa Academy. In 2004, he joined Burnley on a season-long loan and won Burnley's Player Of The Year Award and Young Player Of The Year Award. After performing for Burnley, Cahill made his debut for Aston Villa and broke-through to the first-team. Cahill joined Sheffield United on a three month loan deal, which led to speculation of him leaving Villa. On 30 January 2008, he signed for Bolton Wanderers for a fee believed to be in the region of £5 million on a 3-and-a-half deal contract. Cahill performed for Bolton though the year's, cementing a place in the first-team. At the begining of the 2011-12 season, Bolton manager Owen Coyle confirmed that Cahill will not be signing a new contract as his contract was due to expire at the at the end of the season. This led to speculation that Bolton will sell Cahill instead of letting him leave for free. In late December 2011, Bolton confirmed that they had begun talks with Chelsea over the potential sale of Cahill in the 2012 Winter transfer window.

Cahill is an Engish international. He was eligible to play for either England or Republic of Ireland, but chose to play for England. On 6 February 2007, he made his under-21 debut for England coming on as a substitute at first game at the new Wembley Stadium against Spain. On 4 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, when he came on as a second half substitute for Michael Dawson against Bulgaria, in a 4–0 win. On 29 March 2011, Cahill made his first start for the national team against Ghana in a friendly that ended 1–1. Cahill scored his first international goal in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria, which ended a 3-0 victory for England.

Early Career

Cahill began his career with AFC Dronfield, a Sunday League team in Derbyshire, 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 – whom 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.

Aston Villa

Cahill previously played for Burnley on loan and during his spell, which began in November 2004, he was handed the accolades of Burnley's Player Of The Year and Young Player Of The Year and scored once in the league against Stoke City.

He made his Aston Villa debut as a substitute in the 5–0 defeat at Arsenal and impressed on his first start in the local derby game against West Bromwich Albion at Villa Park on 9 April 2006.

Just a week later he scored his first goal; an overhead kick against rivals Birmingham City. Villa went on to win the match 3–1.

Cahill started the following season injured, but took advantage of an injury to Martin Laursen later in the season to force his way into the first team. He made several appearances for Villa during the 2006–07 season.

On 19 September 2007, Cahill joined Sheffield United on a three month loan deal. He made his debut in a 3–2 away defeat at Crystal Palace a few days later. Cahill scored his first goal for Sheffield United in a 1–0 win at Stoke City on 10 November 2007. Under the terms of his loan agreement, Cahill returned to Villa Park in mid December 2007 having played sixteen games and scoring two goals.

Speculation surrounded Cahill's future in the January 2008 transfer window with Villa's city rivals Birmingham City. Bolton Wanderers and Turkish club Beşiktaş J.K. all reportedly showing an interest.

Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers scout Colin Harvey was impressed by Cahill and on 30 January 2008, Cahill joined Bolton Wanderers on a three-and-a-half year deal. On 2 February 2008 Cahill made his league debut for Bolton in their 2–0 victory over Reading. Cahill has since become a firm favourite at the Reebok Stadium and won the "Best Newcomer" award at the end of the season. In July 2008, he was handed the number 5 shirt by manager Gary Megson, which was previously worn by Abdoulaye Méïté. On 5 October 2008, Cahill scored his first Bolton goal in a 3–1 victory at West Ham United. In August 2009, 18 months after joining Bolton , Cahill signed a new three year contract with the club.

Cahill suffered a blood clot in his left arm after a training injury which forced him to pull out of the home game against Fulham on 6 February 2010 and he spent the weekend in hospital. The treatment for the ailment meant that he could not play for a number of months.Cahill nonetheless cemented his place at the heart of the Bolton defence in the 2010–11 season, in the process making 36 Premier League appearances and scoring three goals, all of which came at home, at the Reebok Stadium. On 13 August 2011, he scored on the opening day of the 2011–12 season against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in a 4–0 victory from 25 yards out in the 45th minute.

During 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 [Cahill] does move, there is no doubt there will be top clubs clamouring for Gary." This led much speculation that Cahill could move to the "Big English Clubs", like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur, who all showed interest. On 23 December 2011, Coyle confirmed that they opened talk's with Chelsea about a possible transfer, as he said, "Regarding Gary Cahill, there has been dialogue between ourselves and Chelsea,".

International Career

Cahill was one of a number of uncapped players in Stuart Pearce's first squad as England U21 coach. He was not chosen to start the match, on 6 February 2007, against Spain. His first under-21 cap for England was the first game at the new Wembley Stadium, where he partnered Anton Ferdinand at the centre of the England defence. His final of four caps came in the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, where he made one appearance. Cahill was called up to the England squad for the match against Kazakhstan on 4 June 2009 following the withdrawal of Rio Ferdinand, but had to wait over a year for his first cap, until he came on as a second half substitute for Michael Dawson on 3 September 2010 against Bulgaria, in a 4–0 win, at Wembley Stadium.In doing so, he became the first Bolton Wanderers player to play for England since Michael Ricketts in 2002.  On 29 March 2011, Cahill made his first start for the national team against Ghana in a friendly that ended 1–1.

Until he played for England he was also eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland through an Irish grandparent. However, his manager at Bolton and former Ireland international, Owen Coyle has said that Cahill only wanted to represent England. 
On 2 September 2011, in his first competitive start, Cahill scored his first international goal for England against Bulgaria in the qualifying rounds of the 2012 Euro tournament in the 13th minute. In netting the opening goal, Cahill became the first Bolton Wanderers player to score for England since Ray Parry against Northern Ireland in 1959.