Gary Cahill will captain England tonight, over nine years since being sold by Aston Villa.
England’s Gary Cahill in action with Malta’s Michael Mifsud
As Gary Cahill prepares to captain England against Germany this evening, Aston Villa will again be reminded of one of their biggest mistakes in recent memory.
Cahill, 31, was the hero for Chelsea on Saturday afternoon as he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory at Stoke City, and he will now lead out the Three Lions at Signal Iduna Park tonight in the absence of Wayne Rooney.
The centre back has been one the most reliable players for club and country in recent years, and his step up to England captaincy today will only remind Aston Villa of their huge mistake.
Cahill came up through the ranks with Villa having joined the club at the age of 15, and represented both the England under-20’s and under-21’s during his time at Villa Park.
A promising centre back with Villa, Cahill made just 31 appearances for the club, as he struggled to break into the team ahead of players like Martin Laursen, Olof Mellberg and even Zat Knight.
In January 2008, Villa decided to sell Cahill to Bolton Wanderers, with BBC Sport reporting that the fee involved was just £5million, with Villa boss Martin O’Neill deciding to sell the the defender at the age of 22.
Chelsea’s Gary Cahill celebrates scoring their second goal
Since then, Cahill has become a title winner with Chelsea, racking up more than 200 appearances for the Blues whilst also winning the FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League and Champions League in a trophy-laden spell at Stamford Bridge.
Conversely, Villa have struggled defensively since the exits of Laursen and Mellberg, and they will rue not keeping hold of Cahill when he should have been earmarked as the future of Villa’s defence.
Villa have been criticised for letting academy graduates – such as Marc Albrighton, Barry Bannan, Steven Davis, Daniel Johnson and Callum Robinson – leave too early, but Cahill, sold for just £5million, will go down as one of their biggest mistakes in the last ten years.
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