Subject to a medical, Steve Sidwell is an Aston Villa player

Barry out, Sidwell in - £12m profit and maybe a right-back thrown in too.

Good work.

Very happy with this.a very good player who can hopfully make a good pairing with reo coker.come on,lets get some more in today!

'Most excellent' have you been watching Bill and Ted?

Excellent news!

Scolari is said to want to be reducing his squad by a further 5-7 players, could be a few other chelski bargains available? I'd fancy a punt at SWP even if we go for bentley. Could play bentley in middle of park too.

Thank God players at last, i think sidwell needs a good run out he didnt play much last season???

who's next

Excitement mixed with relief!

For the purposes of the competition for who could predict the date of the first signing of the year, will it be counted as the date he actually signs his contract? ;)

Well thats the first one lets hope its the first of many. Im pleased with Sidwell as first signing i agree with Luke if Barry is sold and we get Finnan i think MON has done a good bit of business.

i am normally very patient but i thought we would have more signing by now (as im sure, most of us did) hopefully this is the start of many. Bentley should now be one of our top targets. barry saga has gone on way too long. sell him and concentrate on bringing other additions. i will be watching for news of more

Yay..a signing!! I've heard that Miguel is next on O'Neill's list

happy days....lets get the ball rollin rollin rollin,MORE!!I WANT MORE!

Great news!,and hopefully more to come.

Could this talk of Bentley be true??? Both stories where reported this morning and one has come true he he

Next in please...

I'd take any of the following as additions (Not Necessary first Choice)

Steed Malbranque, Joleon Lescott, Anton F, David Bentley, Robert Green, And Nicky Hunt

Thet would be an excellent additions to the squad. totalcost about £50million in total - that is £32 when we sell barry. Must be achievable.

Very good news - a powerfull player who will score goals also.
Reading really struggled without him last year - a great buy for the Villa.
Let's hope it's the first of many of this quality.
UTV

mini_beest, I hope you're right!

Fantastic news. So relieved. Miguel not so sure. £11m for a 28 year old is too much. He's caused trouble at every team he's been to.

bet sidwell takes barrys England place by Wc2010 :D...... Great news keep them coming Mon

Well done Martin O'Neill. Well done club website for breaking the news. . . as loads of you Villa guys know, it was in the Daily Star SEVEN weeks ago.

has anyone seen that article on the website called "mon on captaincy" because it says that there are quite a few canditates at the club and perhaps some not

thats a hint for a pretty good player

This is news but not great news.
Ok some news of a signing at last is better than no news. But come on lets face it Sidwell is no superstar. Just because he sat on the bench at Chelsea does not make him a world beater. I still have great concern about the lack of ambition we are showing as an established club with a billionaire owner. We need to be making some signings and looking for big name players to attract more big names and pushing on. At this rate back to 16th in the Prem this season would be optimistic. Come on MON and sign some class and quality you miser.

Darryl - It's 'fans' like you that do my nut in! I'm sure we could sign a bunch of international players on whopping salaries but it's a lottery as to whether they perform in the premier league. Teams like Newcastle have tried that route and look where they are despite there rich owner. Have faith that MON will bring in the right type of player for us and when the football starts, if we are no good then you can criticise.
Otherwise go and support small heath.

OMG! The transfers in/ out at the top of the page has actually changed! Lets hope it will continue to change in the next few weeks, hopefully with more changes to transfers in and one change to out.

Heard the Miguel thing on sky sports this morning. Would be nice, but won't hope for anything yet.

Darryl, I can't agree. Sidwell is a very good player who MON will turn into an excellent one. Was anyone exceited by the signing of Young? Don't forget that Sidwell is our SECOND signing of the season, after Curtis Davies.

PaulE....I seem to recall the wording for the competition was the day it was announced (not the day of signing). That said is Davies the first signing. Which date are you going to use Damian as the winning date... Come on let us know...Over to you Damian!

PailE...Here's the wording for the competition...So it's down to which player is classed as the first to be announced by the club...Is it Davies or Sidwell?....

Wording below by Damian

[quote]All you've got to do is write in the date, e.g. May 12th. If more than one person picks the same date, names will be entered into a hat and will be drawn on the day we get confirmation from the club that a deal has been done, not necessarily that the player has signed. Oh, only one entry per user name too.[[/quote]

Darryl, you are a joke, away back to bed.

Like a sad muppet, having a couple of minutes to spare the predicted new player announcement date comp was as follows. 3rd July predicted by 'GrahamG' (so that would be the date Davies was announced) and today 9th July by 'alwaysvilla' and 'Kiwivillan' (the date Sidwell announced). That said a few sites, in relation to the Davies signing have the heading 'Villa's first official signing of the summer etc'

I think this is a decent signing....i remember Sidwell running the midfield when we played Reading a few seasons back when GB couldn't get near him! Let's hope he can perform like this for us :)

This is excellent news.

Darryl - keef hit the nail on the head. Some people thought that Young wasn't worth the money and look how he turned out. Sidwell (when at reading) proved he was very good. Wait until the end of next season before raising doubts i.e when they can be justified.

I agree with Darryl. Im happy we've signed sidwell- only as a squad player.. not to take Barry's Place! The nerve!

Buy Riquelme O'neil!!!!

Excellent News!! I hope we're right about bentley!!!

But overall, i think this could be the start of some sort of avalanche of arrivals!!!

Bentley and Anton Ferdinand before the Intertoto game! As borat would say "Is very nice"

i think sidwell reo will be a good cm, i would also like downing on the left and bentley on the right .young could then play a free role ,carew up front or bent.

LINK
LINK

mmm - ill look forward to seeing her down Villa park

Oh come on two wrongs dont make a right!
Keef et al.......
Just because Curtis Davies is now on the books it doesnt make sidwell a world beater. Although, Davies he will make Sidwell look speedy and technically capable by comparison.
Comon O'Neill, wake up smell the coffee, realise this is 2008 and not 1978. Leave the Mantra's of your mentor Cloughie behind you and sign some decent players you underspending muppet.

Really happy with this news!
Can't wait to see him paired up with Roe Coker. SWP would be awesome aswell. Scolari wants to get rid of 7-8 players including Belletti and SWP sounds like more bids should be going in soon.

Our very on Terry's chocolate orange. :D

sidwells a good player but not a world class player and he will have a roll to play for us in the prem,bentley could be a world class player if we can get hold of him,but what we dont need is another loan keeper please someone tell mon loan keepers dont work,they are only good for back up in case of injuries etc

Great news that Sidwell has finally joined subject to a medical. I personally believe he is as good as Barry and a great bit of business at 5 million.
Regarding Bentley, i would love him at the club and think it would really send out a positive message to the big boys. However i am extremely doubtful that he would turn down an offer from a club in London.

What are these rumours about him meeting up with O'Neil yesterday?

And is there any substance to them?

up the villa

oh, and still a little unsure about the new away kit, but lets hope its a grower!

sidwell is a quality player, what other reason would he have been at chelski.his signing is already an improvment to the squad.and it can only get better

Darryl!...We could realy do without reading your consistently negative comments and views on players and on a guy who is doing his best!...Do us all a favour!....Shut up!!

sidwell is a quality player , why elsa would he have been at chelski.this is already an improvment to the squad it can only get better.

Darryl, take no notice of your critics - unless of course that you're [i]trying[/i] to wind people up, in which case - well done.

Taglor was excited yesterday, I think he must have known this was going to happen.

Fantastic bit of business for us. I can see another one coming from Chelsea as well in the next few days - SWP. Yes, I can see Sidwell nicking GB's England place by 2010. ;) ;) ;D

Starman - your organ predicted this seven weeks ago. Can you give me a couple of winners for the July meeting please?

1 down, hopefully another 6 to 8 to come :)

That's more like it and if we got someone like Bentley people like Malbranque would be welcome to boost the numbers we just needed that bit of class. If we could just also ask for Santa Cruz to be included in the price!! All quiet on the wright-phillips front any idea if he's off? if we got him to and Lennon we would have the fastest team ever in the world ever. ;D ;D ;D ;D

we must get bently and for sidwell yerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. we only sell barry if we get fiinan in the deal says oneil.

its taken a bloody long time to get sidwell in. lets hope the avalanche follows!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lets pray bentley is next!!!!!

People keep saying it took ages to get sidwell but he was waiting for scolari to come in. I reckon by next friday we have signed 4 more:)

Haha! Is anyone here responsible for this on Steve Sidwell's Wikipedia page...?

"Away from football, Sidwell is an avid art collector, rambler and student of 17th century Spanish literature"

Comedy.

Great signing though.

Excellent.

Nothing more needs saying, but I have to say one thing:

“Anybody who can do anything in Leicester but make a jumper has got to be a genius.” - Brian Clough

The naysayers and doom-mongers cannot argue with the greatest manager England never had.

Miguel the Valencia Right back - villa have made an 11 million bid. this transfer window can only get better boys ;D

Taglor, Big Phil has said in a press conference that he expects up to seven players to be leaving. Well I reckon that SWP must be nailed on to leave Chels this year. Do you remeber last year that Ian Wright bigged up Villa to his boy. Let's just hope that MON is in the frame for his signature. [i]That[/i] would make my summer complete.

Knowing our luck and lack of signings whats the bet there's a complication on his medical....hahahahahahahaha...that would be typical.....hope not!!!!

Excellent.

Nothing more to say, but I can't resist:

"Anybody who can do anything in Leicester but make a jumper has got to be a genius.” - B Clough

HOw can the doom-mongers disagree with the greatest manager England never had.

Why do people think SWP is any good?

sidwell passed medical and will be unveiled as a villa player in the morning! happy days. :)

Ohhhh yesssss. Here it comes.
This week will be the last time Man City, Blackburn, Spurs and all the other wannabes are mentioned.

The VILLA.
End of debate.

if we sign bentley i think the team might go abit like this
guzan/robinson
??? davies laursen bouma
reo coker
bentley sidwell
young
gabby carew
with some more new additions : striker, left back, centre back

Bloody hell.....While I think it's a good signing, let's not get too giddy just yet! Some of you sound really easily pleased that we have signed someone that's been a reserve player (all-be-it at Chelski). When we get a couple of real class players in, then I'll start to get a bit tingly with excitement!

I hope he is committed to the club! After all he did stall the tranfer because he wanted to speak to Scolari first, and the talk about compensation. Sounds like hes in it for the money too. Hope not!

[quote]
"He is in no rush to leave Chelsea," Walters told the Evening Chronicle.

"There is a new manager coming in and he would at least like to meet with him over the next couple of weeks to discuss his future in person.

"He is entitled to some compensation if Chelsea agree to part with him."[/quote]

Nice to see we have new signings starting to come in.

vivavilla, well if you think SWP is crap, how come he played more competative matches than sidwell? and everyone seems to think he is the best player in the prem, to be honest I think ginge is very average.

If chelsea are letting 6 or 7 players go surly beletti or fereira might be leaving as they just signed boswinga.why not put in a bid for 1 of those if were supposedly going to offer 11 million for miguel.

Pleased with Sidwell, he's a quality addition....
What happens if the scouser pull out of the Barry deal?
does that mean we kiss goodbye to Bentley et al?

I want to see Lescott at Villa most of all.