Frank Lampard Will Be Stay At Chelsea

PETER Kenyon has confirmed Inter Milan's £7.95million offer for England midfielder Frank Lampard will be rejected.

The Chelsea chief executive also insists that he expects Lampard to honour the final year of his contract at Stamford Bridge if they cannot persuade him to sign a new deal.Lampard is alleged to be unhappy that his future at the club remains unresolved but Kenyon is adamant that their offer of a contract extension remains on the table.

"The situation is ongoing," said Kenyon.

We have always maintained that we want Frank to stay and an offer was made to that effect. That offer is still on the table. Frank is under contract and he still has one year to run on that. We'd like to hope we can reach an agreement but if we can't we have always worked on the basis that Frank sees out the terms of his contract. Chelsea has made its position very clear to Internazionale and they have come back now with a financial offer. That will be rejected.

"Kenyon also rejected accusations that new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari tried to persuade the club to give Lampard a five-year deal. "It is totally untrue that Felipe was pushing the club or putting pressure on us to change the offer to Frank," said Kenyon.

Aston Villa have agreed to sign Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell – Martin O'Neill's first capture of what is expected to be a hectic second half of the summer. The Midlands club have settled on what is believed to be a fee of around £5m for the former Reading player, subject to him passing a medical test.If all is well, Sidwell will link up with Villa's pre-season tour of Switzerland. Sidwell has been one of O'Neill's main transfer targets since the season ended.