Chelsea legend Gary Cahill announces retirement

Former Chelsea and England defender Gary Cahill has announced his retirement at the age of 36.

Cahill was part of the Bournemouth squad which won promotion to the Premier League during 2021-22, making a total of 22 appearances in the Championship.

However, the centre-back did not feature from January 29 onwards and has been without a club since the summer, subsequently leading to his decision to hang up his boots.

Cahill brings an end to his professional career having scored 45 goals across 585 appearances for seven different clubs in all competitions.

As well as winning eight pieces of silverware, all with Chelsea, Cahill earned 61 caps for England and featured in two World Cup squads.

Thank you 🙏https://t.co/vsOB5m4fLZ pic.twitter.com/m2YSdNBPk9

— Gary Cahill (@GaryJCahill) November 16, 2022

Cahill started his career with Aston Villa, coming through the academy setup to make 31 appearances in all competitions between loan spells at Burnley and Sheffield United.

However, it was not until a transfer to Bolton Wanderers where Cahill's stock rose significantly, his performances for the Trotters leading to his first England call-up in 2009 and debut a year later.

After making 147 appearances for Bolton, Cahill left for Chelsea in a deal worth in the region of £7m, and it proved to be one of the club's best pieces of business during the Roman Abramovich era.

Cahill heavily contributed to eight trophies being won between his arrival in January 2011 and his exit at the end of the 2018-19 campaign, making 291 appearances in total.

© Reuters

Although Cahill won two Premier League titles and was named in three PFA Team of the Years, his crowning moment came in 2012 as he featured in Chelsea's famous Champions League triumph over Bayern Munich.

Having missed almost a month with a hamstring injury sustained during the second leg of the semi-final versus Barcelona, Cahill returned to play the full 120 minutes as the West Londoners eventually defeated Bayern on penalties at the Allianz Arena.

Upon departing Chelsea, Cahill spent two years with Crystal Palace, making 45 outings across two top-flight campaigns under his former England boss Roy Hodgson.

Now aged 35, first-team football and challenging for a trophy became Cahill's objective as he signed for Bournemouth, and he was part of a backline which possessed the joint-best defensive record in the second tier at the end of January, his 22nd and last outing of his season and career coming as he was sent off in the final minutes of a 1-0 win at Barnsley.