Almost a done deal? Speculation mounts that Richard Dunne also signs for Aston Villa today

News is filtering through that Richard Dunne might also signed on today after finally, you'd think, agreeing a pay-off from Manchester City although it is worth stating at this point that the club have not yet confirmed this and as every minute passes without them doing so, it does raise doubts.

However, if he has signed, that now means, we have real cover in every defensive position and you have to be happy with that.

It also means, you'd hope, that we won't let as many goals in this season and if Dunne can put in some of the performances that won him supporters player of the season so many times at Manchester City, that he might also be a replacement for Martin Laursen, although it's going to take something hugely impressive from him to convince me, only because Laursen really was fantastic.

We replaced Barry by signing Delph and Downing and there is every chance Martin O'Neill sees Dunne as the replacement for Laursen, so in terms of the manager and his responsibilities, job done, almost.

Now, we just have to hope that it all falls into place this season, that the manager doesn't take it upon himself to change the formation from 4-5-1 and we do better than we did last season, most notably by not bottling it in February when everything will hopefully be within touching distance.

Roll on silverware and a proper crack at the top four or am I getting carried away? Doesn't matter, the window is shut and this is our lot, but what do you think, has this been a good window and do you see us progressing?

For the competition we ran on net spend, I'll look for a winner later, but for now, the net spend has been worked out on the following; Barry and Knight out for a combined total of £16.5mn with Stewart Downing, Fabian Delph, Habib Beye, Stephen Warnock, James Collins and Richard Dunne signed for a combined fee of £36.5mn.

This gives us a net spend of £20mn and as soon as the Dunne deal (£5mn) is confirmed by the club, I'll look for a winner. If there was more than one person that said £20mn then all names will go into a hat and I'll have my five year old pick a winner and I'll announce as soon as it is done.

Tomorrow, I'll also announce the winner of the two VIP tickets to the Hall of Fame event in Birmingham on September 22nd.