Crystal Palace newboy Gary Cahill admits his final season at a Chelsea player was "horrible."

Cahill was firmly out of the first team picture under former Blues boss Maurizio Sarri.

A winter transfer had been mentioned, but the player stayed to fight for his place.

He finally made the decision to move on in the summer, joining Palace on a free transfer.

"I think you never saw on the outside how tough it was, to be honest," Cahill told Sky Sports.

"It's something I never want to get used to, I've played a heavy part in every season I've been at that club, so it was a freak [season].

"It's erased out of my life, it was a horrible year but I won't remember it in my career at Chelsea, I'll remember all the seasons before that and how successful they were.

"The situation was always going to end in me leaving, it'd gone too far one way, especially with the manager there, it was always going to happen."