Defender confirms he doesn’t want to leave Stamford Bridge
Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has confirmed he doesn’t want to leave the club despite reports claiming otherwise last week.
According to reports, Cahill had felt like he had reached a crossroads in his career and was ready to move on from Chelsea, but he has dismissed those reports after having a conversation with interim-manager Guus Hiddink.
Cahill has struggled for regular first-team football this season, with Jose Mourinho and Hiddink both opting for Kurt Zouma and John Terry for the majority of the campaign.
However, the England international spoke to Hiddink over the weekend and he’s reiterated his desires to stay put in West London.
Cahill Wants Chelsea Stay
“I did have a good chat (with Guus). He was very approachable. I thought it was beneficial. Very positive. I think from all that stuff that came out, obviously I want to be at the club, I signed a four year contract a couple of months ago,” he said.
“That shows I want to be here, I am settled here, have had a lot of success here and my family is settled here but ultimately I feel I need to play football matches.
“I have always been that way. It has always been in my make up to play a high percentage of games. I realise that sometimes things go well and sometimes they don’t. But it is very important for me I feel personally, even selfishly, to be playing football matches.
“You will never change me. I think it is a positive thing. You get people criticising people who are happy to sit on the bench picking up money. That’s certainly not me, I want to be out there and continue to be a big part of things if I possibly can.
“But like I said, it is a little selfish side that I have in my career. I have played a vast amount of games which has got me where I am now and I want to continue in that same vein, that same path, it is very important for a lot of reasons.”
The centre-back then continued to discuss the changes going on around Stamford Bridge, and he hopes that the club can continue to be successful in the upcoming years.
“Ever since I have been at Chelsea, there has been a lot of rotation. When I first came, there was me, Ivanovic, David Luiz, JT now Zouma has come.
“There’s always been that element because of the amount of competitions we are in and games you play. We rotate but I agree you get a vision or picture of what is going on and how you feel. In the last years when you have been up there with 85-90 per cent of games but this season has been slightly different.
“I have had loads of success and I want to keep that going, I don’t want to be stale. I’m 30. I’ve got a good few years left in me yet. I want to keep progressing and progressing means playing football matches, try and get consistency and so that it doesn’t affect my pedigree or my England chances.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
