Chelsea’s out of favour star rejecting a deadline day switch is a blessing for Sarri and he should use it wisely

With Gary Cahill rejecting moves out of Chelsea, Sarri should use him

According to a report in Sky Sports, Chelsea centre-back Gary Cahill turned down potential moves to Juventus, Fulham and Monaco during the recently concluded January transfer window. The Blues were prepared to let the player go as he has only made seven appearances this season.

In fact, Fulham and Chelsea agreed on a permanent transfer for the 33-year-old, but the defender was unable to agree on personal terms with Claudio Ranieri’s men. (Sky Sports)

With him turning down a lucrative move to Juventus and Monaco, the intention is clear – to fight for his place in the team under Maurizio Sarri. And the Chelsea manager should give the former England centre-back a chance to prove himself in the coming months of this season. Here’s why:

Chelsea’s defensive struggles

In the first part of this season, the centre-back duo of Antonio Rudiger and David Luiz was doing a fantastic job, partly because they are just the sort of ball-playing defenders the manager want. But in the last few weeks, that pairing has been getting opened up too easily, especially the latter.

Without being too critical, Luiz was clearly at fault for a couple of goals they conceded at Tottenham in December last year, and he didn’t cover himself in glory in a meek performance against Bournemouth a few days ago, where three goals of the four they conceded could have been prevented had the 31-year-old taken a bit more responsibility upon himself.

It is nothing new with the Brazilian, who has the habit of playing few games where he is close to non-existent at the back. Hence, Sarri needs to see this and make changes to the line-up at the back. He has Andreas Christensen and a determined Gary Cahill at his disposal.

Maybe giving the latter a chance for a few games in the coming weeks wouldn’t be a bad idea. The 33-year-old possesses the experience of playing tonnes of games in the Premier League, has won titles and trophies with Chelsea and knows what it takes to play for this football club.

Therefore, the manager should slightly bulge from his original food of thought and try something different to solidify an increasingly vulnerable back-line.

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With some tough games to come this month, they could do with solidity and assurance at the back, partly because they have struggled to score abundance of goals to finish teams off.