Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has praised Aston Villa, with rumours about a potential January transfer back to the Midlands club circulating, the Birmingham Mail reports.
Cahill joined Villa’s academy as a 15-year-old.
The defender who has two Premier League medals and a Champions League winners medal to his name, has praised the academy from which he rose up.
I got a lot of enjoyment from school football and then progressed to a team called AFC Dronfield. I played for the year above me, as that’s the team all my friends played in, and I was there for a number of years.
Playing near to where I lived, and at grassroots level, was great fun. I was around 13 when I was scouted by a few teams and I went into the set-up from there.
I was living near Sheffield, and Sheffield Wednesday offered me a contract, so did Derby, but I ended up going to Aston Villa.
It made no sense in terms of where it was but there was something about the club and I had a good feeling about it.
The facilities and the coaching were fantastic. My mum and dad felt the same as I did so we made that decision.
Cahill, now 31, made his senior debut for the club in 2005 before going on to make a further 30 appearances in claret and blue before sealing a move to Bolton Wanderers in January 2008.
There are numerous coaches who have helped me along the way.
But when I went to Villa there was Gordon Cowans, who a lot of people are aware of, Tony McAndrew and Kevin MacDonald.
Those three looked after me from 16 up until the reserves and were a big influence on the way I saw football.
It wasn’t always rosy; they were strict and quite hard on us, but you appreciate that more the older you get. It was just what they demanded through work and the sessions.
They wanted us to play in the right way, at a fast tempo, and we had a lot of success.
Over a period of three or four years the amount of players they produced was frightening: Peter Whittingham, Jamie Ward, Liam Ridgewell, Steven Davis, Gabby Agbonlahor, Craig Gardner, there were loads who came through.
That’s down to the recruitment and the coaching we had which was phenomenal.
Cahill is expected to leave Stamford Bridge once the window re-opens in January after falling down the pecking order under new boss Maurizio Sarri.
