Crystal Palace defender Gary Cahill has insisted that he did not have the offers he wanted that would have allowed him to leave Chelsea in January.

The veteran centre-back made just eight appearances for Chelsea last season and was a fringe player under the stewardship of Maurizio Sarri.  

 



The defender was keen on leaving Chelsea in the January transfer window and the club were open to letting him go as he was not featuring in the first team.

But Cahill stayed put and only left the club in the summer on a free transfer to join Crystal Palace.
 


His decision to stay at Chelsea in January perplexed many observers, but the defender insisted that a number of things are always under consideration when a player decides to leave a club.



He stressed that he did not have the opportunities he wanted in January.

“It’s a difficult thing to speak of”, Cahill told The Times about his decision to stay at Chelsea in January.
 

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“People outside football say, ‘Why didn’t you move in January?’ It’s not as simple as that, to just go.

“You need to make sure the next move is right, you need make sure the contract is right, your family is right. I felt I’d earned the right to wait.

“The kind of things that were around were not right for my career.”

After being an unused substitute in the first two games, Cahill has played each minute of Crystal Palace’s last seven league games.