Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Watford finally saw Gary Cahill make his debut appearance for the 2018/2019 season as Maurizio Sarri gave the 33-year-old a chance to say goodbye to the Stamford Bridge faithful. The Italian, however, was only able to stretch the act of goodwill so far and only a measly few minutes were afforded to the defender to bid adieu, which, after a seven-year stay at Chelsea, demonstrated Sarri’s total lack of faith in the England international.
Few relationships have soured as quickly as Sarri and Cahill’s, but in many ways, for a relationship to sour, there needs to be an act of bad faith to happen first. In Cahill’s case, the only thing he has been guilty of is not being technical enough in Sarri’s eyes, which was enough for the 60-year-old to tell Cahill he would sit in the stands for the entire season because he wasn’t part of his plans.
It was incredibly brutal from Sarri, but that is what the former Napoli manager is paid to do. However, was it the right decision? Now that Chelsea have qualified for the Champions League and are in the semi-finals of the Europa League, where they are in fact, the favourites to win the competition at odds of 10/11 in football betting, it looks like he has been vindicated in not needing Cahill this season. Naturally, that is not the way Gary Cahill sees things, with the defender admitting that “it makes it very hard for me to have respect for someone who has not respected what some of us have won at the club”.
— Gary Cahill (@GaryJCahill) May 5, 2019
Cahill was speaking the day before the 3-0 win against Watford at Stamford Bridge, so, in many ways, he deserves respect for going about his business in a professional manner and not making waves at the club, even while being left out in the cold. His comments, though, do make him come across slightly entitled when you consider that Sarri is only there to make Chelsea better and to be quite fair, he’s not in the slightest bit obligated to roll over to the senior pros in the dressing room.
After all, Cahill was in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the World Cup but did not play a single minute in Russia, which suggests there are also better players ahead of him at international level as well.
For years, it has been suggested that the players at Chelsea have had too much power within the club and it looks like Cahill was part of that syndicate. But with senior members like John Terry and Frank Lampard long gone, the 33-year-old was unable to orchestrate an effective coup during Sarri’s reign. Instead, for the first time in a while at Chelsea, the old guard will be shipped out before the manager goes, but there is still a sense of regret over the way it has happened.
At the end of the day, there aren’t any real winners in this situation and after 289 games and seven trophies, which include the Premier League and Champions League, there can be no doubt that seeing Cahill depart is a sad day for all at the club.
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