Gary Cahill will not be playing for Bolton in the FA Cup and other tidbits

As has been the case many times recently this season, Owen Coyle's pre-match press conference turned into a Q&A about the Gary Cahill situation. The BBC has several interesting quotes, some involving the ongoing transfer speculation and some involving the match this weekend. As for the rumors that Manchester United was in on Cahill all of a sudden:

There hasn't been any dialogue between ourselves and Manchester United or anything like that. When there's continued conjecture and everything that goes with it people are always going to throw up names. We as a football club agreed a deal with Chelsea Football Club and for me that's binding. The only way that will fall down is if the relevant parties don't agree. But my own feeling is I'm pretty sure they can get to a place that they're all happy.

That pretty much ends all of the speculation about United, Spurs, or Liverpool jumping into the fray at this late stage and taking the Chelsea target out from under their noses. Coyle was then asked about what role Cahill will play this weekend:

Gary Cahill will be one of those to miss out on the game, and it's nothing to do with the continuing speculation regarding Chelsea. He's one of a number of players that probably needs to rest given the amount of games they've played.

That may be true, but I'd imagine even if Coyle was feeling like playing his first 11 that the club would be hesitant to cup tie the player anyway. Coyle has also intimated to reporters that he feels a deal will likely be done in the next 48 hours or so, and I'm sure due to ongoing negotiations with Bolton that he has some idea what it is that the player is currently seeking as far as dollars. We'll keep you updated, but I don't think it's going to be very long now before we announce our first signing of the January window.