Chelsea defender Gary Cahill becomes fastest player in Premier League history to win every major trophy

In just over three years since his £7million move from Bolton, Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has won every possible honour.

The 29-year-old is the first player to earn a clean sweep in such a short space of time having won the FA Cup and Champions League in 2012, the Europa League in 2013, before a League Cup and Premier League double this year.

It's an impressive rate for a player who made such a huge step from fighting a relegation battle with Bolton in 2011 to becoming a key figure in Chelsea's historic Champions League run in 2012 which culminated in Cahill defending for his life with a hamstring injury against Bayern Munich.

And while John Terry has rightfully earned the plaudits for steering his side to a first Premier League title in five years, Cahill has worked tirelessly alongside the Blues captain and been a crucial quarter of Jose Mourinho's defence.

The England vice captain has played under four different managers during his three years in west London and has featured heavily for each of them from Andre Villas-Boas to Mourinho.

Cahill showed his strength of character earlier in the season after being dropped for crucial games following Chelsea's shock 4-2 FA Cup defeat by Bradford City in January.

Cahill told the club's official website: ‘I never imagined it but I dreamed about it and hoped it would be possible.

'I don’t think you sit there as a young boy thinking you want a full set of medals, you just want to achieve something.

‘In football you go from hurdle to hurdle, there’s always something to motivate you, always something you want to get. I’ve been here three-and-a-half years and to do it so quickly is amazing.’

In the Premier League era, only former Chelsea duo Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho rival the speed at which Cahill has collected medals in the Premier League era.

Ferreira and Carvalho enjoyed impressive spells of success, winning the Europa League (2003) and Champions League (2004) with Porto before moving to Stamford Bridge and winning the League Cup and Premier League in 2005.

The Portuguese duo, however, didn't pick up their first FA Cup winners medals until 2007 after the 1-0 victory against Manchester United at Wembley.

Before that, Kenny Dalglish collected almost every trophy available with Liverpool between 1977 and 1980, but was made to wait until 1986 to win the FA Cup medal which had been missing from his cabinet.

Legendary goalkeeper Ray Clemence also earned a clean sweep between 1972 and 1981 at Anfield, but was made to wait until 1981 for his first League Cup success with the club.
 

Credit: Ashley Clements/SportsMail