Former England and Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 36. Since leaving Bournemouth in the summer, Cahill, who represented his country on 61 occasions and scored five goals, has been without a club. The two-time Premier League champion thinks it’s time to hang up his boots right now. Cahill made his England debut while playing for Bolton Wanderers, and he won his first cap in a 4-0 victory against Bulgaria in September 2010. After Michael Ricketts in 2002, he was the first Bolton player to play for England as a result.
“It’s been a difficult choice in some ways, but I believe I made it because I intuitively understood that the adventure had to finish at some point. I simply have a gut feeling that this is the ideal moment,” former Chelsea defender Gary Cahill said. “I had choices, though. I had a handful of alternatives in the Championship and could have played for one team in the Premier League, so it’s flattering to still receive offers. My children are currently settled in their schools, my profession is established, and moving again would have been necessary.”
Cahill spent seven of his most enduring years at Chelsea, where he was acquired for £7 million during the January 2012 transfer window. His greatest accomplishment was being a member of the team that won the Champions League in 2012, and when he was at Stamford Bridge, he won eight major awards. Cahill joined Crystal Palace for a two-year stint after departing Chelsea as a free agent in 2019 and made 47 appearances across all competitions for Roy Hodgson’s England. After several weeks of negotiations in 2021, the centre defender who had previously played for Bolton and Aston Villa joined Bournemouth on a temporary basis for the 2021/22 season.
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