Gary Cahill

On the following 1 April, he made his Premier League debut as a 52nd-minute replacement for Ulises de la Cruz in the 5–0 defeat at Arsenal.

Fifteen days later, he scored his first goal, an overhead kick against rivals Birmingham City, to put Villa back into the lead as they went on to win the match 3–1.

Gary James Cahill (born 19 December 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Cahill began his career playing for the AFC Dronfield youth system in Derbyshire.

In 2000, he joined the Aston Villa Academy and continued his development.

In 2004, he joined Burnley on a season-long loan, where he performed well before returning to make his Aston Villa debut.

Later, he signed for hometown club Sheffield United on a three-month loan deal.

On 8 November 2004, Cahill was loaned to Burnley.

He made his first-team debut the following day in the fourth round of the League Cup, playing the full 90 minutes as they lost 0–3 to Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor.

On 13 November, he made his debut in the Football League, in the Clarets' 1–0 home Championship win over Nottingham Forest.

He made 32 appearances on loan, 27 of which were in the league, scoring once on 3 January 2005, the only goal against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

Eighteen-year-old Cahill was handed the accolades of Burnley's Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.

Cahill made his Villa debut on 20 September 2005 in the second round of the League Cup, playing the entirety of an 8–3 win over Wycombe Wanderers away at Adams Park.

On 19 September 2007, Cahill joined Championship team Sheffield United on a three-month loan deal.

He made his debut in a 3–2 away defeat at Crystal Palace three days later, and scored his first goal for the Blades as the only one of a win at Stoke City on 10 November.

On 27 November, he scored again in a 0–3 win at Charlton Athletic.

Under the terms of his loan agreement, Cahill returned to Villa Park in mid-December 2007 having made 16 appearances and scoring two goals.

On 30 January 2008, he signed for Bolton Wanderers for around £5 million.

Cahill performed well for Bolton through the years, cementing a place in the first team.

He made 130 league appearances and scored 13 league goals for Bolton.

Speculation surrounded Cahill's future in the January 2008 transfer window, with Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers and Turkish club Beşiktaş all reportedly showing an interest.

Bolton scout Colin Harvey was impressed by Cahill and on 30 January 2008, Cahill joined them on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

Three days later, he made his debut for Bolton in their 0–2 victory over Reading away at the Madejski Stadium.

Cahill was sent off on 26 August 2008 in the second round of the League Cup, receiving a straight red card in the 38th minute for a foul on Giles Coke as the team lost 1–2 at home to Northampton Town.

On 5 October, Cahill scored his first Bolton goal in a 1–3 victory at West Ham United, and he added two more over the campaign in 4–1 wins over Sunderland and Middlesbrough.

In June 2009, Cahill was called up to the England squad for the match against Kazakhstan; however, he only made his debut on 3 September 2010, coming on as a substitute against Bulgaria.

He made his first start for the national team on 29 March 2011, in the friendly against Ghana.

In January 2012, Cahill signed for Chelsea for approximately £7 million.

He won the UEFA Champions League in his debut season at Chelsea, and went on to win the UEFA Europa League twice, the Premier League twice, the FA Cup twice and the League Cup.

He scored his first international goal against Bulgaria, in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier.

Cahill was born and raised in Dronfield, Derbyshire, and attended Dronfield Henry Fanshawe School.

He was a boyhood Sheffield Wednesday supporter and "grew up watching Sheffield Wednesday, and points to Des Walker as his childhood hero."

Cahill began his career with AFC Dronfield, a Sunday league team, where he played until he was 15.

During his time there, he was scouted by a number of clubs, including Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County and Aston Villa, the last of which he signed for as a member of the club's Academy.

"All my friends played for the local side, AFC Dronfield, so I went along and started playing centre half and in centre midfield for them", said Cahill in an interview with the Manchester Evening News.

Cahill started his career as central midfielder, but moved to centre-back after rapidly increasing in height within the space of a year when he was about 15 or 16, just when he was looking to get his first YTS contract.

Cahill is a former England international with over 60 caps, and represented the nation in England tournament squads for the FIFA World Cups of 2014 and 2018, and the UEFA European Championship in 2012 and 2016, though he withdrew injured from the 2012 event.

He was eligible to play for either England or the Republic of Ireland, but chose to play for England.

Following his release in 2019, Cahill joined fellow London club Crystal Palace on a free transfer.

He left the club after two seasons in 2021.