Yeah, I think Olof signed a pre-contract agreement with Juventus in January 2008, about the same time as Cahill was let go. It was Curtis Davies keeping Cahill out of the side at the time cos Mellberg was at right back, and I think Davies suffered a pretty bad injury shortly after... leaving us with Zat Knight to partner Laursen. Urgh.
In fairness to MON, Cahill said he wanted a guaranteed starting spot or he was leaving, and I don't remember the 2007/08 version of Cahill being good enough to deserve that. Then again, neither were Davies & Knight, so....