Chelsea defender, Gary Cahill, has revealed that he came close to signing for Arsenal in 2011.
- Arsenal bid £7m for Cahill when he was at Bolton
- Chelsea bid £7m five months later in January 2012 and got their man
- Cahill admits he was close to joining Arsenal
Who remembers when Arsenal had a bid for Cahill rejected and described as ‘derisory’ when he was at Bolton?
Arsenal famously bid £7m for Cahill in August 2011, which manager at the time, Owen Coyle, was unimpressed with to say the least.
“There was a conversation between [the Bolton chairman] Phil Gartside and a representative of Arsenal,” Coyle said.
“I’m only passing this on as a third party, but the word derisory doesn’t even cover it. When I make an offer for a player, I’d like to think in the right ball park, but this wasn’t even close.
“I spoke to Gary Cahill about it before the Macclesfield game, and he knows everything that’s going on.”
The defender, who had just enjoyed a fantastic season at centreback with Bolton, has now admitted that he actually did come close to signing for the Gunners that year.
Gary Cahill admits he came close to joining Arsenal in 2011 but they couldn't agree fee with Bolton. Chelsea signed him for £7m in Jan 2012
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) May 26, 2017
However, Arsene Wenger wasn’t prepared to offer any more and the deal collapsed.
Not even half a year later, in January 2012, Chelsea came in with a bid of the same amount and left with Cahill, who is one of the Blues’ key players to this day.