With Terry now at the age of 34, he is showing some of the best form of his career whilst under the management of ‘the special one’. He looks set to continue in the heart of the Chelsea defence after Mourinho confirmed he would be receiving a new contract.
Since arriving at Chelsea from Bolton Wonderers for just £7 million, Gary Cahill has gone from strength to strength and is developing into a great defender for both club and country. The twenty nine year old started his career at Aston Villa. Despite a few loan moves, Cahill broke into the first team and through good performances earned himself a £5 million move to Bolton in 2008. Cahill is known for his powerful and strong style of play. A commanding central defender that is also a very technical player, as well as having an eye for goal too.
It was at Bolton where Cahill started to catch the eye of the ‘top four’ sides. With some solid defensive performances, Cahill become an important member of Bolton’s first team and was named vice captain. Chelsea faced tough opposition from Arsenal in their bid to sign Cahill in January 2012. However Cahill decided Chelsea was his next destination.
In his first season at the club Cahill was in and amongst the silverware. Despite struggling with injuries Cahill was part of the starting eleven that defeated Bayern in the famous night in Munich. In the Chelsea colours, Cahill also picked up an FA Cup winners medal in the same year.
Cahill is currently twenty nine years of age, which in the modern day game is relatively young for a central defender. I’m sure he still has his best days yet to come. I think Cahill has had to mature and develop very quickly whilst playing for Chelsea. Being in the thick of the action, playing against the best teams for club and country are just some of the things that have helped him to grow into the player he is today.
What am I wondering is whether he is what you could call ‘captain material’. I believe so. Maybe not just yet, however playing alongside our current club captain is a great path for him to be heading down. Cahill will defiantly be able to learn from Terry, I am sure from playing alongside it has improve and will prolong his career as a Chelsea player.
Over the summer, England’s national team took a huge blow when Captain Steven Gerrard retired from International football. Meaning, the country needed a new captain. Cahill was one of the front runners to be elected. As it turned out Roy Hodgson decided with Wayne Rooney and handed the role of Vice Captain to Gary Cahill. For me this was a big step forward’s for Cahill. In my opinion I wouldn’t have chosen a striker for a captain but that depends on which side of the fence you sit on. From this I can see Gary going on to captain his country in the future.
A Chelsea defence is not something that you usually question, especially under the guidance of one Jose Mourinho. Since his return to the club, the blues have formed one of the most formidable defences around Europe. However in recent weeks, one or two have started to question it, as Chelsea are starting to leak more and more goals.
Speculation surrounding the Chelsea back four rose following two tricky away games respectively, Newcastle and Tottenham. The Tottenham was the first time Chelsea conceded more than four goals under Jose Mourinho. The game saw Cahill make key mistakes that lead to Tottenham goals. That’s not to say it was Cahill’s fault completely, however it showed he had bad day at the office when won less than 40% of his tackles.
What this game highlighted for me, was the fact that there is still much more to come from Gary Cahill. It showed all the Chelsea fans he is not the complete project yet, but I do believe he will continue to improve as a player.
Due to the fact that John Terry looks set to continue for one, maybe even two more years, this gives Cahill time to continue to learn and develop as a player. By the time that John Terry eventually does hang his boots up. He has already shown great leadership skills and captain like traits for both club and country, I believe that Cahill will be the man to lead the club and possibly country forward in the future.
