Sidwell agrees to join Chelsea on free transfer
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Sidwell agrees to join Chelsea on free transfer
Chelsea have confirmed that midfielder Steve Sidwell has agreed to join the club on a free transfer from July 1.
The 24-year-old has quit Reading after rejecting a new £25,000-per-week, four-year deal.
Former champions Chelsea have been consistently linked with a move for the highly-rated midfielder throughout the season.
Sidwell opted to join the Blues despite interest from Newcastle United, Everton and Aston Villa.
He is Jose Mourinho's first signing of the summer and will be a valuable addition to the squad.
The Portuguese coach is now hoping to add a striker and a defender to the ranks.
Chelsea winger Arjen Robben is also close to agreeing a new deal at Stamford Bridge.
The club have been in talks for weeks over a new contract extension and the player's agent and father, Hans Robben, expects the Dutch winger to shortly sign a new five-year deal.
The 23-year-old has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich but insists he wants to remain at Chelsea after their 1-0 FA Cup final victory over Manchester United at Wembley on Saturday.
Chelsea are believed to be ready to offer Robben an improved five-year deal and Robben senior confirmed: 'We are close to a new deal. We have not agreed all the details, but I don't expect any big problems any more.'
And when asked about the link with Bayern Munich, Robben senior added: 'Nonsense. Of course there were several clubs last period who asked for Arjen, but we always had the intention to come to an agreement with Chelsea. That they will now sign him for five years, proves their confidence in his qualities.'
Meanwhile, Andriy Shevchenko's advisors have moved swiftly to deny that his potential appearance at tomorrow's Champions League final in Athens has nothing to do with speculation linking him with a return to AC Milan.
Shevchenko has been invited to attend the final as a guest of Milan.
The 30-year-old won the European Cup in 2003, beating Juventus, but was on the losing side when Milan lost to tomorrow's opponents Liverpool on penalties in 2005.
Despite joining Chelsea for nearly £30million last summer the Ukraine international has been regularly linked with a return to the San Siro.
But, although he has yet to decide whether to attend the match, a statement from management company WMG, said: 'Andriy is not in talks of any kind with AC Milan - he has a contract with Chelsea and that is the end of the matter.
'AC Milan have invited a whole host of former players to this showpiece match and Andriy is just one of those players. There is nothing else to it and he will decide whether to attend tomorrow.'
Meanwhile, the Court of Arbitration for Sport have ruled that FIFA must penalise Adrian Mutu with financial penalties for breaching the terms of his Chelsea contract.
The Romania striker, now with Fiorentina, had his contract terminated by Chelsea after he tested positive for cocaine in October 2004.
He joined Juventus on a free transfer during his seven-month suspension, even though he had cost Chelsea £15million.
The Blues successfully claimed Mutu had breached the terms of his contract by failing the drugs test and called on FIFA to decide on a compensation figure for the player to pay them.
Mutu argued he should not be liable to pay any compensation and FIFA said they did not have the jurisdiction to make any order.
However, the governing body must now make the decision after Chelsea took their case to the CAS and had their appeal upheld.
A statement from the CAS read: 'CAS has upheld the appeal filed by Chelsea FC against a decision rendered on 26 October 2006 by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) concerning the Romanian football player Adrian Mutu.
'In its decision, the FIFA DRC denied jurisdiction to determine what sporting sanction and/or financial compensation should be imposed upon the player further to the breach of his contract with Chelsea FC.' -
why on earth, do they need another midfielder for? goodness, just because it is free transfer, and he probably knows he is going to sit on the bench for at least half of the season, and the glamour of playing champion league, and maybe just maybe, an england call up.............
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so how much is he earning at chelsea???
he wont much time playing. another waste of talent -
BENCH-WARMER.
50,000 a week, I think.Originally posted by used:so how much is he earning at chelsea???
he wont much time playing. another waste of talent
He's going to be a bench-warmer. Everyone but him can see it because he's blinded by the money. -
the way i see it, makelele is quite old, and mikel is quite young. and that ballack is useless, if he impresses, i think he does stand a chance, cuz essien will most likely be playing as dm to replace makelele soon.
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isn't this makelele going back to Spain? Mikel, Essien and Droga involved in the African's cup right?? And this Sidwell seems to quite quality..Originally posted by stellazio:the way i see it, makelele is quite old, and mikel is quite young. and that ballack is useless, if he impresses, i think he does stand a chance, cuz essien will most likely be playing as dm to replace makelele soon. -
Cant believe an Arsenal Reject join Chelsea
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Scott Parker-wannabe.
Cheers.
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sidwell will probably warm the bench for Eissen while he is away on AFC duties. Moreover, he can play providing midfielder, Mourinho can call on him in case his Lampard or Ballack is firing blanks upfront.
sidwell is a good player and also meets Mourinho's budget since he doesn' t have much to begin with for the coming season. -
scott parker was good, rianeri used him alot, only when mourinho came did he get droped. and mourinho wanted to convert parker into a DM, but during mourinho 1st season, makelele was irreplacable. suay i would guess.Originally posted by CKeer:Scott Parker-wannabe.
Cheers.
CK -
makelele will probably be used like maybe 30+ / 60 games a season. ballack is old and sucky, while essien and mikel going african cup, so he will get a chance, plus u never know bout injuries, like this season.Originally posted by iceFatboy:isn't this makelele going back to Spain? Mikel, Essien and Droga involved in the African's cup right?? And this Sidwell seems to quite quality..
hopefully he can do well.