Gary Cahill
Personal information
Full name	Gary James Cahill
Date of birth	19 December 1985 (1985-12-19) (age 23)
Place of birth	Sheffield, England
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Bolton Wanderers
Number	5
Youth career
2000–2004	Aston Villa
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2004–2008 2004–2005 2007–2008 2008–	Aston Villa → Burnley (loan) → Sheffield United (loan) Bolton Wanderers	28 (1) 27 (1) 16 (2) 57 (5)
National team2
2007 2008	England U20 England U21	04 (0) 01 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 08:39, 11 November 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:51, 11 February 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Gary James Cahill (born 19 December 1985 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire) is an English footballer who currently plays for Bolton Wanderers.

Contents 1 Club career 2 Aston Villa 3 Bolton Wanderers 4 International career 5 Honours 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Club career

Cahill started his career at AFC Dronfield, a Sunday league team in Derbyshire, where he played up until the age of 15, at that point whilst training with Derby County Academy, he signed for Aston Villa's academy.

[edit] Aston Villa

Cahill previously played for Burnley on loan and during his spell, which began in November 2004, he was handed the accolades of Burnley's Player Of The Year and Young Player Of The Year and scored once in the league against Stoke City.^[1]

He made his Villa debut as a substitute in the 5–0 defeat at Manchester United and impressed on his first start in the local derby game against West Bromwich Albion at Villa Park on 9 April 2006.

Just a week later he scored his first goal; an overhead kick against rivals Birmingham City. Villa went on to win the match 3–1.^[2]

Cahill started the following season injured, but took advantage of an injury to Martin Laursen later in the season to force his way into the Villa team. He made several appearances for Villa during the 2006-07 Premier League season, and was widely considered to be a terrific prospect.

On 19 September 2007, Cahill joined Sheffield United on a three month loan deal.^[3] He made his debut in a 3–2 away defeat at Crystal Palace a few days later.^[4] Cahill scored his first goal for Sheffield United in a 1–0 win at Stoke City on 10 November 2007.^[5] Under the terms of his loan agreement, Cahill returned to Villa Park in mid December 2007 having played sixteen games and scoring two goals.

Speculation surrounded Cahill's future in the January 2008 transfer window with Villa's city rivals Birmingham City,^[6] Bolton Wanderers and Turkish club Beşiktaş J.K.^[7] all reportedly showing an interest.

[edit] Bolton Wanderers

Bolton Wanderers scout Colin Harvey was impressed by Cahill and on 30 January 2008, Cahill joined Bolton Wanderers on a three-and-a-half year deal. On 2 February 2008 Cahill made his league debut for Bolton in their 2–0 victory over Reading.^[8]Cahill has since become a firm favourite at the Reebok Stadium and won the "Best Newcomer" award at the end of the season. In July 2008, he was handed the number 5 shirt by manager Gary Megson, which was previously worn by Abdoulaye Méïté. On 5 October 2008, Cahill scored his first Bolton goal in a 3–1 victory at West Ham United.

[edit] International career

Cahill was one of a number of uncapped players in Stuart Pearce's first squad as England U21 coach. He was not chosen to start the match, on 6 February 2007, against Spain.

His first under-21 cap for England was the first game at the new Wembley Stadium, where he partnered Anton Ferdinand at the centre of the England defence. His final of four caps came in the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, where he made one appearance.

Cahill was called up to the England squad for the game against Kazakhstan on 4 June 2009 following the withdrawal of Rio Ferdinand.^[9] Cahill has also been linked with a call up to the Republic of Ireland squad if they qualify for the upcoming World Cup as he qualifies through a grandparent.^[10]

[edit] Honours

Aston Villa

• Goal of the Season Winner: 2005–06

Burnley

• Player of the Year Winner: 2004–05
• Young Player of the Year Winner: 2004–05

Bolton Wanderers

• Players' Player of the Year: 2008–2009^[11]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gary Cahill career stats at Soccerbase

Awards
Preceded by Robbie Blake	Burnley F.C. Player of the Year 2004–05	Succeeded by Jon Harley

v • d • e Bolton Wanderers F.C. – current squad 1 Bogdán · 2 Hunt · 3 Samuel · 4 Robinson · 5 Cahill · 6 Muamba · 7 Taylor · 8 J. O'Brien · 9 Elmander · 10 Riga · 11 Gardner · 12 Knight · 14 K. Davies (c) · 15 Steinsson · 16 M. Davies · 17 Klasnić · 18 Ricketts · 19 McCann · 20 Vaz Tê · 21 Cohen · 22 Jääskeläinen · 23 Davis · 24 Shittu · 26 Al Habsi · 27 Lee · 29 Harsányi · 30 Basham · 31 A. O'Brien · 32 Mooy · 33 Ward · Manager: Megson