I want To Play First Team Football; Cahill tells Hiddink

Gary Cahill has revealed he has held talks with interim
Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink and has reiterated his desire to
play first-team football.

Cahill signed a new four-year deal in December but has
fallen down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge following
the sacking of Jose Mourinho and Hiddink's arrival.

His sole Premier League start under the Dutchman came in
the 2-2 draw against Watford on Boxing Day and Cahill is
eager for more more playing time place ahead of the
European Championship in France.

"It's all about me playing for Chelsea," he told reporters.
"The bottom line is that I am very happy here, and I
extended my contract for those reasons.

“My family and everything is settled here, I've had loads of
success. I want to keep that going. I don't want to be stale.

I'm 30. I've got a good few years left in me yet."

Cahill says has spoken with Hiddink about his situation and
told him he will not be happy on the bench.

"I did have a good chat,' he added."I feel like it was old
baggage brought to him because he has only just walked
through the door and for me, like a lot of other players, from
day one this season, there's a bigger picture.

"It was a good conversation, he was very approachable. I
thought it was beneficial, very positive. I think from all that
stuff that came out, obviously I want to be at the club, I
signed a four-year contract a couple of months ago.

"That shows I want to be here, I am settled here, have had a
lot of success here and my family is settled here but
ultimately I feel I need to play football matches.

"I have always been that way. It has always been in my
make up to play a high percentage of games. I realise that
sometimes things go well and sometimes they don't. But it
is very important for me I feel personally, even selfishly, the
need to be playing football matches.

"You will never change me. I think it is a positive thing. You
get people criticising people who are happy to sit on the
bench, picking up money.

"That's certainly not me, I want to be out there and being a
big part of things if I possibly can, realising that everyone
else is playing well as well.

"Ever since I have been at Chelsea, there has been a lot of
rotation. When I first came, there was me, Branislav
Ivanovic, David Luiz, John Terry and now Kurt Zouma has
come in.

"There's always been that element because of the amount of
competitions we are in, and number of games you play.
"We rotate but you get a vision or picture of what's going on,
how you feel.

"When you've been up there with 85-90 per cent of games,
this season has been slightly different."