Republic of Ireland international Richard Dunne will travel to Maine Road today to discuss personal terms after Manchester City agreed to pay Everton £3 million for the 21-year-old Dubliner.
Given the positive relationship City manager Joe Royle and Dunne enjoyed at Goodison Park when Dunne first arrived in England as a teenager, the move appears to be a formality.
Royle indicated last week that he was anxious to sign the Irishman for a second time and although Dunne faces tough competition for a place in the heart of the City defence, the fact that City have one of the worst defensive records in the Premiership would suggest he might not have to wait too long for a chance to prove himself.
Currently first choice at Maine Road are former England international Steve Howey and Spencer Prior, both far more experienced than Dunne and also signed by Royle over the past year.
Of the pair, Prior would look to be the more vulnerable and the hope for Mick McCarthy will be that Dunne, having already impressed on his recent outings in a green shirt, will learn quickly playing alongside a defender of Howley's stature.
The deal was agreed an hour after City released the former world player of the year George Weah. The 34-year-old Liberian has been a frustrated substitute for much of the season since Royle's audacious summer swoop after Weah was released by AC Milan.
Weah made his debut in a blaze of publicity at Charlton on the opening day of the season and despite his restricted opportunity he is still the club's joint-top scorer with four goals.
Manchester City issued a statement in which they said Weah would be travelling immediately to America on official business for UNICEF and FIFA.
Huddersfield yesterday confirmed that Steve Bruce has parted company with the First Division strugglers following their disastrous start to the season.
Town, who narrowly missed out on the play-offs last season, are second from bottom in the division and former Manchester United captain Bruce (39) paid the price following talks with chairman Barry Rubery.
Reserve team manager Lou Macari will take over in a caretaker capacity for tonight's trip to Sheffield United - ironically the club Bruce left to join Huddersfield.
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill has admitted he would rather buy British than import from abroad as he looks to beef up his squad with the purchase of Dundee goalkeeper Robert Douglas.
The Celtic manager flew back from a scouting mission to watch UEFA Cup opponents Bordeaux to be told that the two clubs had agreed a fee in the region of £1.5 million for the Scotland B international.
O'Neill met the player and his agent last night - but the deal is expected to go through, after a medical, today.
Meanwhile, Celtic have been made favourites to win the Scottish Premier League title for the first time in more than two years.
The Tote - Britain's fifth largest bookmaker - have cut Celtic's odds to 8 to 11 to snatch the championship from Rangers' grasp at the end of the season.
The news comes on the back of Celtic's 2-0 home win over St Mirren which increased their lead over their Old Firm rivals to six points after they were beat 1-0 by Hibernian, who remain just two points behind O'Neill's men.
Barcelona's Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert is certain to miss Barcelona's Champions League matches against AC Milan tomorrow and Leeds next week.
Kluivert picked up a hip injury playing for Holland against Portugal last week and it is expected to keep him out for up to a month.
FIFA have confirmed that Scotland manager Craig Brown will be banned from the touchline for the World Cup qualifier against Belgium in March.
Brown was sent off for an outburst in the dugout during the 1-1 draw in Croatia last week and will have to watch the game from the stands unless an appeal to FIFA's disciplinary committee is successful.
The Scottish Football Association are set to make a ruling on the Jim McLean affair in eight days' time.
McLean, who resigned as Dundee United chairman after allegedly assaulting a journalist in a post-match interview, has been referred to the SFA's general purposes committee which will sit on Tuesday, October 24th.
It is within the committee's remit to charge the 63-year-old with bringing the game into disrepute and even impose a life ban.
McLean has apologised to BBC Sportscene reporter John Barnes, who was allegedly struck in the face when McLean reacted angrily to a question about the future of United manager Alex Smith.
Bobby Gould has been replaced as Cardiff's first team manager by his assistant, Alan Cork, but will remain at the Third Division club.
Cardiff's owner Sam Hammam confirmed the former Wales coach will retain the title of club manager but Cork will take charge of all coaching and team selection matters.
Hammam said: "We have reconstructed the management team and Bobby will now have the time to be much more aggressive on the recruitment side."
