Steve Sidwell !

[Chelsea FC Champions]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sp ... 170225.ece

i want us to get rid of him he is useless!

i hope we would sell him for a reasonable amount of £

maybe 4-6 million!

we could replace him with michael woods or sergio tajera

[Blue Sun Tzu]

I agree; in no way is he up to the standard required by Chelsea and what's more when he does play he looks as though he knows it.

[Maksimov]

Considering he's 4th or 5th choice, he's top quality. You won't find a better quality 4th or 5th choice backup player, but then again, I wouldn't mind if one of our young ones would get his place. But for a backup player he is good and has been a model professional by keeping quiet about not being picked. Maybe he's smart enough to see that his place in the pecking order is due to him not being as good as the other players available for the center of midfield.

[TheWestwayWonder]

We're about to turn a player who cost maybe 20k a week into 5 million pounds. I dont hate the guy too much

As Max says, he was a great choice that far down in the pecking order, with real quality. Hopefully he settles at Villa and becomes the player he was at Reading. But had the textbook 'anonamous career" while at Chelsea, for sure

[batfink]

I think Chelsea wanted 2 million, but Villa are offering 5 million. This give's sidwell a payoff and he can reduce his £60,000+ per week wages.

[valim]

sell for free

we dont need money ( 5 m )

but we have to many player now and we need to small grup

list to out

swp.ferriera.bridge.drogba.pizzaro.sidwell.ben haim.

and moree

[blizeH]

Considering he's 4th or 5th choice, he's top quality. You won't find a better quality 4th or 5th choice backup player, but then again, I wouldn't mind if one of our young ones would get his place.

+1 to this. I think he'd be a good signing for a team that are just outside the top four, and pushing for a UEFA place though.

[TomP]

As our squad and our system currently stands, we have 6 proper central midfielders vying for 3 starting places (Lamps, Ballack, Essien, Maka, Mikel, Sidwell)

I think this is about right - we do need the extra cover from the 6th man (Sidwell) in a 50+ match season. If we had only 5, then injuries to any two of our CM's, and we would have no cover on the bench.

Whether we keep him or let him go should be up to him. I can't see him getting any more game time next season, but if he is happy to stay, then let him stay. I could totally understand if he wants to move on for the sake of his career though.

The only other reason to actively move him on if he doesn't want to go is if we have a youth prospect who is ready to make the step up. I haven't seen too much of Michael Woods, but from what I have heard he is still a year or so away from making the step up, and I don't think there are any other young central midfielders on our books who are better than him.

So, basically if he wants to go, let him go and if he wants to stay, let him stay. I mean, we bought him for nothing, and if 20k is all he is on, then he is probably bottom of the wage structure in the squad.

[Lofty]

I agree. If he wants to go, let him go. He's hardly costing anything, comparatively speaking (but by Chist how I'd love to be on the bottom of that kind of wage structure.

But anyway, noises have come from various quarters (the usual suspects) about it being a disastrous career move for him, the same kind of noises that were spouted about Scott Parker, Joe Cole, and SWP. Out of those three, only Joe Cole actually made ithe grade. SWP had plenty of chances, played an occasionally good game, but was generally wasteful. Parker suffered through injuries and could have stuck around to try to fight for his place, but chose not to. Sidwell can't have realistically expected to have too many chances when he signed, so I don't see how in his case, the club can be blamed for putting a halt to his career.

[TheWestwayWonder]

Let them say what they want, Just. We all realized that it was a terrible move for him, personally, because he would play little and do little more than fill the role of last option in midfield.

It worries me a bit, though, because I wonder if young, promising players will ever sign with us again. We buy established stars, young stars, and youth players. And outside of Essien, Joe Cole and Obi Mikel, it seems that nobody except for established stars actually gets games with which to find form or show their stuff.

At some point guys like Ivanovic or Sinclair have got to be given a chance. Sidwell was an oddity because he wasnt really a "promising youngster" but I think our abysmal track record with buying young, or more accurately buying on potential, is something that needs to be reexamined. When is having Arnesen, bags of cash, and connections to Dutch football going to pay off?

[Qaz]

Any player who makes it to the top level (assuming the top level is the Premiership) has a certain arrogance or confidence in their ability that makes them beleive they are not only good enough but makes them want to prove themselves.

Players are allways going to want the opportunity to prove themselves at the top clubs. As long as we are a top club, with top players, in the top competitions, paying top wages, players will flock to the side.

[TracyD]

I had a funny feeling he'd leave Reading where he was the bee's knees, and end up a real bit part player. Mind you, this would probably have been the case at any of the top four clubs.

I found him a very unusual purchase for Chelsea.

[Liam]

I found him a very unusual purchase for Chelsea.

We were running an athletics club at that time.

[TracyD]

I found him a very unusual purchase for Chelsea.

We were running an athletics club at that time.

What I meant with the unusual purchase thing. Did you think he'd fit straight into your first team at the time? With all the talk of selling him, the most you can hope for is a profit on his sale, which in the end, can't be bad.

[Luis Enrique]

Didn't Sidwell have his Chelsea contract terms tattooed on his chest? I guess that will have to be altered.

[evissy]

Didn't Sidwell have his Chelsea contract terms tattooed on his chest? I guess that will have to be altered.

Yes it is true. He also tried to dye his hair blue just to make sure..well you can all see the result.

[Gem]

Didn't Sidwell have his Chelsea contract terms tattooed on his chest? I guess that will have to be altered.

Very funny!

[Jimboola69]

Villa seem dead keen.

Lets offer them Sidwell, belletti (also linked with) and SWp (also linked with) in exchange for Ashley Young!