By Mark Heys
January 30 2008

Bolton Wanderers have beaten off strong competition from their Premier League rivals Birmingham City in the race to land Aston Villa defender Gary Cahill on a three and a half year deal.

The 22-year old has been a major target of Trotters manager Gary Megson throughout the course of the transfer window and now the England U21 international is a fully fledged Wanderer.

Signing professionally for Villa in December 2003, Cahill made 28 top flight appearances for the Midlands club and had succesful spells out on loan at Burnley and Sheffield United.

During his time at Burnley in 2004 he won the Clarets Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year and earlier this year he was farmed out to the Blades to gain more experience

Speaking of his latest addition, Megson was happy to have landed a player with a bright future ahead of him in the game.

"He is a player I have admired for a long time. Gary is very talented and at 22 years of age has a very, very bright future ahead of him. It is fantastic news that he has agreed to join Bolton Wanderers."

Cahill himself described his return to Lancashire as the right move and was impressed with the way in which the manager and chairman sold the club to him during the negotiation period.

"It is the right move for me to come to Bolton. I had a look around their set-up and met with the manager and Chairman, and I was impressed with what I saw and heard."

Megson is hopeful of adding more new faces to the squad before tommorow's deadline with the Wanderers chief confirming he has one or two irons in the fire.

"We've still got a couple of irons in the fire - and I'm optimistic that we'll be able to conclude those deals" added the gaffer

The overall fee for Cahill remains undisclosed but it is beleived to be somewhere near the £5 million mark, which means the centre half is Bolton's second most expensive signing ever behind Nicolas Anelka.

WALKING DOWN THE MANNY ROAD WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME GARY TO BOLTON WANDERERS,