BlueLion.

Aston Villa have agreed to sign Steve Sidwell from Chelsea, subject to him passing a medical. Sidwell, who joined Chelsea on a free transfer from Reading last summer, will cost Villa around £5million. He will become Martin O'Neill's first summer signing, with the Villa Park club expecting to complete the deal on Thursday. The move is expected to pave the way for Gareth Barry's transfer to Liverpool, with O'Neill holding out for around £17million for the England midfielder. Source: Sky Sports. Was bound to happen some time.

Yes. They are only showing it on Chelsea Plus to non-UK residents, unfortunately.

Cechino That's a new one.

In a couple of years, Kakuta will be ready for the Premier League. He has the ability to go on and play regularly at Championship level in the next 12 months and I can't wait till we see him at the Bridge.

Lampard, from 2004/05 through 2005/06, was easily the most consistent and arguably the best all-round midfield player in the world. Whilst in the past two years his confidence and skill has slightly declined - due to injuries throughout the previous two campaigns - he is the only midfield player who can score 20 goals a season without fail and easily contribute a further dozen with his passing and intelligence on the ball. Lampard still has three or four years to give at the top level. Whilst I believe Frank is past his peak, he is still one of the most consistent and reliable players in European football and it would be beneficial of Chelsea Football Club to keep him at Stamford Bridge. On the other hand, in Deco we have signed another player proven in the central midfield position, who can contribute with a handful of goals and excellent dribbling ability to the squad. Whilst he doesn't have the goalscoring instinct of Lampard, Deco has an intelligence on the ball I think very few players have, and he is capable of creating plenty of goalscoring opportunities for someone like Shevchenko or Drogba. If Lampard goes - he will be missed. 20 goals per season through the last four campaigns is something not easily replaced, but in the likes of Michael Ballack, Michael Essien and Deco, we have quality players who can fill the void. If Lampard is in demand so much that Inter are willing to offer bids in excess of, say, £10-12 million, then it would be well-worth cashing in. With every year that passes Frank's value will decline by a good two or three million due to his age. If it is in the interest of the player to go to Inter, then he should leave, and leave with the respect of Chelsea fans and go down in folklore as one of our greatest-ever players. As much as I want to keep Lampard at the club until he retires, if Lampard wants to go and the money offered is suitable, then the player should leave.

Scolari won't stand for his antics, so if Drogba stays next season, I suspect he'll be giving it all, or be left on the bench.

Possibly My point is, is that Ivanovic was signed for a lot of money, indicating the club wanted him, but I don't think he can consider himself better than a defender who is established on the world stage with Portugal and the European stage with Chelsea in Carvalho, and a Brazil international who has the potential to be one of the best defenders in the Premier League.

You're right, the first one or two games in pre-season tend to be 1-0 victories. I'm just looking forward to seeing Scolari assess his options.

Nice work Jim.

Pre-season. One of my favourite times of the year. I can't wait to see Scolari take the helm, and see the likes of Bosingwa, Deco and Ivanovic in action, as well as several of the youngsters. I fancy us to demolish this team by a healthy 4 or 5 goal margin. Why? Because I'm never even heard of them

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Well when I say as a second striker, I mean as a man in the free role between the midfield and the forwards, in an advanced CAM position.

Scolari won't let him go - he's basically said that publicly. The club aren't going to enter negotiations with any club, let alone Inter. I think its safe to say FL8 is going to be at Stamford Bridge next season. I'd just appreciate it if he made his desires public.

I agree about Buffon. He could have gone to Roma when Juve were relegated. Plus the fact he is arguably the only goalkeeper in the world as good as Cech, save Iker Casillas.

I would go as far as saying Alex can be better than both Terry and Carvalho.

Drogba is the sort of player who needs to be told he is wanted, that he is an important part of the system. I'm sure we will see Drogba continue his antics, but he got a lot of support when Shevchenko came in 2006 from Mourinho, who said he would not freeze Didier out of the team. Scolari has given him the same sort of message - hopefully we will see Drogba break the 100 Chelsea goals margain next season.

Dinho and Quaresma are players who he was worked with, and with a quota of Brazilian and Portuguese players in the squad, it would be an attractive move to join Chelsea. I'm excited by his comments, especially as he says he wants to sign more players.

I'll remember that one for next season

If he was going to leave, he'd either have walked out or been sacked by now, judging on the recent ruthlessness of the club.

For a guy who can barely speak English, its great he's giving interviews to the Sun.

Scolari has no problem understanding English, it is just more difficult for him to respond, apparently. This is likely to be the case, as it is the same with all foreign languages as you learn them.

Joe Cole is more effective as an out-and-out attacking midfield player in my position. Whilst he is excellent on the wing as well, he is at his best running the midfield, pinging balls up to the strikers, I can imagine him being played in almost a second striker position. The same is with Kalou, he seems to benefit more from playing in a 4-4-2 with a strike partner. He is a talented dribbler but he is ultimately a striker and they are assessed on their goalscoring abililty. I know Kalou has improved his attacking game and now has 20 Chelsea goals to his name, but a system featuring two strikers would suit him moreso. Mikel is complicated, because no matter how excellent he already is, he must prove himself on the training field to be better than Ballack, Lampard, Deco, Essien and Makelele in order to get his place.

Agreed. And he seems to have got over the disappointment of his error in the Turkey game at Euro 2008, and I'm sure he will be stronger for it. He is a bloody minded player and I would not at all be surprised to see him break the Premier League's - and his own - record for clean sheets at the beginning of a campaign.

Well Mourinho played a more defensive system, so it is likely whatever way Scolari plays that everyone will have their opportunity to get forward. However I think it will take a while for us to play fluid football as Arsenal or Barcelona do, and our system may appear just as rustic-yet-efficient as it was last season, there will be many minor changes to our game over the first few weeks of the season.

Just seen an interview with the big Czech on Sky Sports news, stating that whilst he is "only 26," he would "like to finish [his] career at Chelsea." This comes days after reports linked Cech with a movie to Serie A, but Pete has said the Premier League is the best league in the world and he wants to finish his career playing in England for the Blues. Good to hear at least Big Pete has stated his desire to stay at the club.