The Bolton Wanderers centre-back was linked with Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur in the summer, but Stamford Bridge is his best bet.
Gary Cahill’s season hasn’t exactly gone according to plan.
Sure he scored for Bolton on the opening day in a 4-0 win at QPR, but since then it’s been a slippery slope with one crushing defeat after another.
In fact the price of £17 million Bolton chairman Phil Gartside is rumoured to have demanded from Arsenal looks more ridiculous by the day.
Come to think of it this summer there was even talk of a move to Barcelona.
Despite the chuckles, Cahill is still a good defender.
One thing that has gone right for him this season is the way he has broken into the England team.
Here he has formed a solid partnership with Chelsea captain John Terry, which no doubt Terry’s manager Andre Villas-Boas will have noted.
In central defence Chelsea are narrowing their options, with Alex transfer listed.
This leaves Luiz and Ivanovic to partner Terry, neither of which are reliable and may be best deployed elsewhere.
Chelsea could bag Cahill in this transfer window for a bargain price, as little as £7 million.
His contract is up in six months time and the risk is he walks on a free. Bolton, heavily in debt, cannot afford for this to happen and with few bidders remaining will have their hand forced into a cheap sale.
A move to Chelsea will suit Cahill as it will boost his England career and he can cement his international place by forming a solid club partnership with Terry, a key incentive ahead of Euro 2012.
Surely negotiations, led by agents, have already started behind the scenes and it is a case of when not if.
Arsenal will not be back, and Tottenham’s ‘interest’ was only ever a last minute bid.
Manchester United were fleetingly linked when Vidic suffered his injury, but they have a wealth of options already in that position.
This leaves Chelsea as the only top club interested in his signature.
Bolton will want to sell early and have time to spend the proceeds of his sale on new arrivals, in their perilous position they cannot afford a whole month of distraction and uncertainty.
A move to Chelsea would be best for all parties, and it could happen in the first week of January.
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