Argentina's Veron on verge of Chelsea move

Manchester United's Argentina international midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron is set to join Chelsea after his agent met officials of the London club.

"The meeting with Chelsea on Wednesday is very important. Everything is OK at the moment but we will need to confirm what we discussed on Tuesday," Veron's agent Fernando Hidalgo told the Guardian newspaper Wednesday.

"If Seba is very happy with what Chelsea offer, then we will close the contract with Manchester United."

Chelsea were now expected to clinch the 28-year-old player in an 18 million pound (29 million dollar) deal.

He has had a love-hate relationship with Alex Ferguson since United paid Italian side Lazio 28 million pounds (45 million dollars) two years ago and has made 82 appearances, scoring just 11 goals.

Veron has cost 120 million dollars in moves to Italian sides Sampdoria, Parma and Lazio and United since 1996.

Chelsea have so far paid out 36.9 million pounds (41.9 million dollars) on four players this month.

Their biggest signing has been Irish winger Damien Duff from Blackburn Rovers for 17 million pounds.

They also lured Cameroon midfielder Geremi from Real Madrid for 6.9 million pounds, England defender Wayne Bridge from Southampton for seven million pounds and teenage full-back Glen Johnson from West Ham for six million pounds.

The spending spree started when Russian oil billionaire Roman Abramovich took control of Chelsea after agreeing to buy out the London club for 86 million euros (97.5 million dollars) and cover debts estimated at around 115 million euros.