Villa set to sign defender Dunne

Aston Villa have agreed a fee with Manchester City for their defender Richard Dunne.

The 29-year-old City captain will now travel to Birmingham to discuss terms, according to the Villa website.

There has been speculation surrounding Dunne's future following the arrival of defenders Joleon Lescott from Everton and Kolo Toure from Arsenal.

The Republic of Ireland centre-back signed for the Manchester club in October 2000 from Everton for £3m.

Dunne, who may have played his last game for Mark Hughes's side against Wolves last weekend, has had a chequered career at City.

In his first season, the club were relegated to the second tier and then in 2002 he escaped the sack but was suspended and fined £20,000 for arriving for training in a poor state.

Dunne underwent an intense training regime and regained his place in the City side. He went on to receive the club's player of the year award over four consecutive seasons.

And at the start of the 2006/07 season, Dunne was appointed City captain by Stuart Pearce, taking over from Sylvain Distin.

Dunne was on the pitch for every minute of every game that season, both league and cup, and went on to land fans' player-of-the-season honours for the third successive time.

Villa are also in talks to sign left-back Stephen Warnock from Blackburn.