England centre back Gary Cahill is so frustrated by a lack of first-team football at Chelsea that he wants to leave the club in an attempt to safeguard his international place at the European Championship in the summer.
The England vice captain has played more than 170 games for the Premier League champions but has made only 12 league appearances this season as Kurt Zouma and John Terry have become the preferred starters.
Cahill fears he might miss out on the Euros this summer if he is still not playing regularly, a source close to the player told Reuters.
While it could be too late to make the move before the current transfer window closes on Monday, Cahill is resigned to leaving the champions to ensure regular top-flight football.
The defender, who cost Chelsea around £7 million (Dh36.8m) when he joined from Bolton Wanderers in January 2012, says he may be at the “crossroads of his career”.
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The 30-year-old made 10 starts at the beginning of the season before Jose Mourinho was sacked after 16 league games.
He has played only twice since Guus Hiddink took temporary charge on December 19, and one of those was in the FA Cup against third-tier Scunthorpe United.
The source said Cahill, who was appointed England vice-captain in September 2014, was genuinely concerned about his chances of playing for his country in the European Championships in France if he is not playing regularly for his club.
While Cahill has been in and out of the Chelsea side, he has been a mainstay in England’s successful march to the Euros, playing in eight of their qualifiers as they won all 10 to sweep into the finals.
He captained his country for the first time in October’s European Championship Qualifying victory over Estonia at Wembley.
He won his 40th cap in the 2-0 friendly win over France in November but the emergence of Everton’s John Stones, a Chelsea target in the summer, and Manchester United’s Chris Smalling means he will have to fight for his place in the Euros.
Cahill in May last year became the fastest player in Premier League history to win all five possible major club trophies.
It took him a little over three years to clinch winners’ medals for the FA Cup, Uefa Champions League, Europa League, League Cup and Premier League.
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More on animal trafficking
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The years Ramadan fell in May
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
England-South Africa Test series
1st Test England win by 211 runs at Lord's, London
2nd Test South Africa win by 340 runs at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
3rd Test July 27-31 at The Oval, London
4th Test August 4-8 at Old Trafford, Manchester
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
