Aston Villa are closing in on the signature of Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell.
The Midlands club are understood to be on the verge of agreeing a £4.5m deal for the former Reading player which could go through as early as next week.
Sidwell has been one of Villa manager Martin O'Neill's main transfer targets since the season ended.
And his expected arrival will offset some of the disappointment surrounding the club regarding the expected departure of Gareth Barry to Liverpool.
Sidwell played a major part in Reading establishing themselves in the Barclays Premier League two seasons ago before moving to Stamford Bridge last summer.
The former Arsenal trainee, who has also attracted interest from Manchester City, had limited opportunities under Jose Mourinho and then Avram Grant as Chelsea narrowly missed out on Premier League and Champions League glory.
O'Neill, who is currently working as a television pundit at the Euro 2008 finals, has a number of other targets including Blackburn winger David Bentley who has been linked with a £15million switch to Villa.
He is aware of the need to considerably bolster what was the smallest squad in the Premier League last season having already lost the services of Olof Mellberg, Patrik Berger and Thomas Sorensen.
And Barry is certain to leave once Liverpool match O'Neill's valuation of his skipper at around £18million.
Jimmy Bullard, Tom Huddlestone, James Milner, Aaron Lennon, Pascal Chimbonda are possible Villa targets along with Sporting Braga right-back Joao Pereira and Crystal Palace teenager Shaun Scannell.
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If you look at Sidwell's time at Reading, he showed his true colours. He was playing for the TEAM, not the WAGE, you could argue Barry plays the same.
Also, let's not get disillusioned with how good Barry is, he is a left sided player able to play in defence and midfield but he doesn't deliver the killer pass enough or have flair. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather keep him, but we need to bolster a small team.
Sidwell is not a bad signing, we just haven't seen enough of him. I feel he is very similar to Barry, he just doesn' have Barry's ten year history with us.
Also, what does anyone reckon of Bullard? He's another player that seems to play for the team. He also has a cracking right foot as does Bentley....
To sum, I feel that MON is doing okay in terms of looking at players but he needs to hurry up signing them!
sorry for the ramble.... XD
I've been an Aston Villa fan for nearl 18 years now and i've never thought about supporting another club but if we but Steve SIdwell to replace Gareth Barry i;m going to become extremely disillusioned with the club!Sidwell isn't fit to replace Barry, at best he'd be a squad player and the logic behind O'neill bringing him in to replace Barry in beyond me!
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