Sidwell Exit

[BlueLion. 21,491]

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.

[bombayblue™ 55]

Decent bit of business..

he'll be better at villa, than barry at pool, i trust rafa to fuck him up with player and positional rotation..

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Barry is worth nowhere near £17 million. £10 million would be pushing it, but if Lampard only warrants a £8 million bid from Inter, I'd say Barry would be worth about a tenner. Such a difference in class.

But anyway, good luck to Steve. Gutted it didn't work out for him, but its an excellent bit of business which benefits Chelsea financially and the player also. Good luck to him at Villa.

[terry26 6]

17 million for him ???????? :huh:

anyway good luck to Siddy sad it didnt' work out for him at the bridge but excellent business

[Kez 2,727]

Gareth Barry 17m?! :541:

Why do Liverpool even want him they could get much better players.. another Peter Crouch if you ask me.

But anyway good luck to Steve he deserves to be at a club where he'll be playing and get a chance.

[chrismada9 1,948]

Sad to see an English player leave Chelsea, but I reckon it would be for the best for him if he left us since he has been left out in the cold with regards to games because of all these superstars we currently have.

Good luck at Villa Siddy!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

He's going there with no pressure on his shoulders, unlike when he came to the Blues. He's a better player than Barry in my opinion, certainly more consistent anyway. Best of luck to him.

[zinctek 460]

such a young player should be playing weekly football and i couldnt see it when we signed up but good luck to him and brilliant business for Chelsea which i had some stock in my shop i got for nothing and a year later i sold it for 5mil

[pippin 0]

would have been interesting to see how his time at Chelsea would have turned out if jose had stayed at the club. but he should do well at villa

[misschief 24]

Made no sense at all signing him in the first place, he was never going to feature. Still we made a decent amount out of it so mustnt grumble.

[EskWeston 696]

If we want squad players in the future we are better to go for talented youngsters who are more willing to not play so much but have the ability when they come on. Signing players like Sidwell, Pizarro and Ben Haim done us no favours at all, they looked out of their depths every time.

[Stamford 3]

As far as Barry goes I think the Wiki page sums it up within the first sentence.

Clicky

I saw Sidwell play on his loan spell at Brighton and he was class in a team of average league 2 players, and when he signed for Reading I thought that they were the right level for him. A step up to us was a step too far. But good luck to him at the Villa, I hope he makes a success of his career up there.

[nikno 1]

Yeah, best of luck to Sidwell, I liked him at Reading but knew signing him was ultimately a step down in his career as he wouldn't get played very often, hopefully he can pick up some form at Villa and do well.

[Kez 2,727]

Gareth Barry is an English football player who is a complete twat

[terry26 6]

omg thats brilliant

[misschief 24]

Considering he's spent the year at Chelsea completely redundant, he was really positive about us. Makes a nice change for a player to have that sort of attitude. Fair play to him. I hope he does well at Villa - as long as it's not against us.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

That being said, he did an okay job when he was called into the team. Scored a cracker against Hull as well, his contribution was small yet effective, ultimately.

[Gianfranco_Z 202]

Shame it didnt work out, I wanted him to stay and become a regular in the future

good luck sidders