Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has hinted that captain Gary Cahill will be free to leave the club in January.
The 32-year-old has been linked with a move to Arsenal in recent days, along with Manchester United’s Eric Bailly.
Speaking about Cahill’s situation ahead of tonight’s Europa League game against Vidi, Sarri said:
“He is in the last year of the contract. He has to decide
“For the over 30 [players] the club usually offers only one-year contracts. If he has an offer of three years, he can of course choose something [a transfer away from Chelsea].”
With the England international’s contract running down, a sale next month is looking more and more likely, and with Rob Holding likely to be out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, Arsenal may be keen to recruit a centre-half like Cahill.
Unai Emery currently has three fit centre-halves in Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Laurent Koscielny, but with the Frenchman coming back from a long-term injury, options are limited if the
Gunners boss wants to play a back three.
Konstantinos Mavropanos is the club’s only other natural centre-back, but he won’t return to full fitness after a groin injury until later this month.