• 26-year-old Cahill has seven England caps and will cost £7m
• Defender looks set to replace Alex who could join QPR

The England defender Gary Cahill is on the verge of becoming a Chelsea player after passing a medical, the Premier League club’s manager, André Villas-Boas, said after his side’s 1-0 defeat of Sunderland which consolidated fourth place.

After days of negotiations over the Bolton Wanderers centre-back’s terms, the deal now looks a formality after the medical at the London club’s training ground earlier on Saturday. “Gary passed his medical and should be our player soon,” Villas-Boas was quoted as saying by the BBC.

The 26-year-old, who has seven caps and will cost Chelsea about £7m according to reports, will link up at Chelsea with the England captain, John Terry, and looks set to replace Alex.

Reports say the Brazilian defender, who asked for a transfer due to a lack of first-team opportunities, could join Chelsea’s neighbours Queens Park Rangers.

Cahill joined Bolton from Aston Villa in 2008 with his career apparently going backwards but he has developed into an outstanding defender even though Owen Coyle’s side have struggled all season.

Chelsea have moved now with Cahill out of contract at Bolton at the end of the season. Tottenham Hotspur had also previously shown interest in the defender.

He will now compete with Brazilian David Luiz to be Terry’s central defensive partner, with Cahill fighting for a place in England’s Euro 2012 squad.

ChelseaAndré Villas-BoasTransfer windowBolton Wanderersguardian.co.uk

Club confirms their players will not echo Liverpool’s support of Luis Suárez as skipper faces race abuse charges

Chelsea have confirmed they rejected a proposal for their players to wear T-shirts in support of captain John Terry.

Some of the Blues squad and staff had raised the prospect of donning supportive slogans on their tops, showing their backing for Terry, who has been charged with racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.

Liverpool were heavily criticised in some quarters for allowing their players to wear T-shirts in support of Luis Suárez during the warm-up before Wednesday night’s Premier League game at Wigan, following the striker’s eight-match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra.

Chelsea, who fully back Terry in his fight to clear his name, did not want to risk emulating something that could be viewed as provocative or construed as a potential contempt of court offence ahead of Terry’s hearing at west London magistrates court on 1 February.

A club spokesman said: “We were aware of the idea being discussed among some of the players and staff.

“The club fully supports John but did not think the wearing of T-shirts was an appropriate or helpful show of that support.”

ChelseaJohn TerryRace issuesguardian.co.uk