CHELSEA WILL continue discussions with Gary Cahill’s representatives this weekend over personal terms and are confident they will complete the signing of the England centre half early next week.
A fee of about £7 million (€8.38 million) has been settled with Bolton Wanderers for Cahill (26), whose contract at the Reebok Stadium is due to expire at the end of the season. Manager Owen Coyle intends to select Cahill for this afternoon’s critical game against Wolverhampton Wanderers but is resigned to life without the defender once the window opens tomorrow and he is actively seeking a replacement.
Chelsea and Cahill remain at odds over the size of his prospective salary but Andre Villas-Boas, while making it known he continues to monitor alternatives, believes a compromise will be reached before rival suitors emerge.
“It’s in the hands of my chief executive [Ron Gourlay],” the Chelsea manager said. “It’s an ongoing conversation and the best outcome for us is the player joining. I think we can sort it out. It should be no problem but at present we’re miles apart regarding an agreement with the player.
“Gary’s technical attributes are immense. His pace is fantastic as well. He’s a player who has been playing magnificently well at international level, normally alongside John Terry, and he can add to this squad or any squad in the Premier League.
“He can make this jump,” Villas-Boas added. “There are weaknesses but they’re also related to Bolton’s collective organisation.
“Normally the collective also makes the individual stand out. We believe that, with our collective organisation, we can improve the individual form of the player.”
Villas-Boas may seek to add one more player to his ranks during the window given Nicolas Anelka’s sale to Shanghai Shenhua and the anticipated absence of Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou to the Africa Cup of Nations. Their expenditure, however, is not expected to match the £73.5 million (€88 million) outlay made on Fernando Torres and David Luiz at the same stage last season.
“This squad are the players we have set out to win four trophies,” the manager said. “We would be calling ourselves incompetent by going on to make radical changes just because the market opens.
“Apart from a central defender, I really don’t know if we will be adding anyone else. We are always looking for talent but January is difficult because that talent is not always available. And, if it is, it’s available only at extra cost.
“Hopefully we will finish the deal with Cahill and then, regarding the forward situation, we will study it and decide whether it’s worth it [entering the market again] or not.”
The likeliest arrival remains the Juventus attacker Milos Krasic on loan, with the bulk of Chelsea’s transfer business to be done in the summer. There may be interest to field in their own players, particularly following Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment by Paris St-Germain.
The French side will attempt to sign the likes of Alexandre Pato and Kaka from Milan and Real Madrid but he could also pursue Florent Malouda.
Villas-Boas will meet his technical staff over the next few days to decide whether Josh McEachran should be loaned out, while no firm bids have yet materialised for the transfer-listed Alex.
