It has been revealed that not only did Chelsea beat Tottenham to the signing of Willian in recent years, but also another Blues player was wanted by them and chose to join Chelsea instead around a similar time.
Jamie Redknapp has confirmed that his father Harry wanted to sign Gary Cahill from Bolton before he joined Chelsea, and has described missing out on signing him as being one of Harry’s ‘big regrets’.
We all know that Harry loves a deal, so he would have been extra jealous about the small £7 million fee that Chelsea ended up paying for Cahill in 2012, but it wasn’t meant to be and Chelsea went on and got the best years out of Cahill, helping them to a number of trophies and successes over the years.
The Evening Standard have reported on the video call between Jamie Redknapp and Cahill that revealed the information whilst the pair are in isolation like the rest of us right now.
He told Cahill:
“I went to one of those games against Tottenham [for Bolton] and I remember my dad saying afterwards: ‘I’ve got to sign him, he’s different class.’ Then you went to Chelsea.
“I know for a fact one of my dad’s big regrets is missing out on you.
To which Cahill replied:
“I remember having a conversation with your dad about going there, but it never materialised.”
