Bonding trip helps Cahill settle

Gary Cahill has been through a "mad couple of weeks" but now feels fully at home with Chelsea as he prepares for his debut in Saturday's FA Cup tie against QPR.

Cahill completed a £7million switch from Bolton on January 16 after finally agreeing personal terms but was not included in the squad for the Barclays Premier League goalless draw at Norwich.

The England defender, 26, jetted out with the rest of his team-mates to Majorca for some warm-weather training and believes the trip has been a good bonding exercise.

"It has been a mad couple of weeks for me hasn't it?," Cahill said on www.chelseafc.com. "I came in on the Tuesday, trained for just a few days before the game at Norwich and then we came straight over on a plane to Majorca. Training has been really good and it has been enjoyable to get to know the lads - I know everyone a lot better now."

He added: "The trip has definitely helped me. I have only been here just over a week, so I've obviously still got to get to know the lads a lot more than I do now, but it's been great because we've spent most of the time together and I've got to know them a lot better than if I was back in England.

"There are a lot of different characters here, definitely - most of all because of all the different nationalities. That's the one thing that's really different here and in that sense it's really good - there are some entertaining characters and they're great guys."