Gary Cahill Had Lost Respect For Maurizio Sarri After Poor Treatment At Chelsea

Gary Cahill admitted there was animosity between him and former Chelsea boss, Maurizio Sarri.

Cahill had been a regular at Stamford Bridge throughout his Blues career but was boycotted during his final season under Sarri.

His lack of involvement forced him to sign with Crystal Palace the next season in order to ensure more playing time. “We went to the 2018 World Cup, got to the semi-finals, so I missed pre-season, which I think was massive looking back now,” Cahill told the Mail.

“He (Sarri) was very much into his tactics, probably too much, and I missed all of that. I was on the back foot. To be brutally honest, halfway through the season, the relationship was gone. I don’t think that was ever going to be recovered.”

“It’s difficult to have respect for some of the things he did,” he continued. “But I have a lot of respect for the club, and for the players. As a big figure then, as captain, to go about things totally the wrong way, which I easily could have done, it’s not the way to do it.

“Was that easy? No. Was that one of the mentally toughest things to deal with? Especially because it went on for so long? One hundred per cent. The maddest thing is when you don’t play for whatever reason – if you’re out of form, or if you had a few bad games and someone is playing better than you – I know in my head that if you give me four or five games in a row, I’ll be back. I’ll take my chance.

“You know that in yourself because you’ve got that burning desire inside of you. Give me five games and you won’t get this shirt back. That’s an arrogance you have to have. The problem is he never gave me that.”