Manchester United defender John O'Shea is due to have a medical at Sunderland today, with Wes Brown already completing a move to Steve Bruce's side.
The 30-year-old Republic of Ireland international was on his way to Wearside this morning.
The move for Republic of Ireland international O'Shea was stalled when his wife gave birth after Sunderland's bid was accepted.
A successful completion of O'Shea deals would take manager Steve Bruce's summer signings to date to eight.
Bruce targeted the pair, as well as midfielder Darron Gibson, several weeks ago when the Black Cats had a joint bid of more than £12million accepted for the three.
Gibson was quick to indicate his willingness to consider a move to the Stadium of Light, but that deal has proved to be the most problematic.
O'Shea has edged ever closer to accepting Sunderland's offer to add experience and know-how to a defence which was badly affected by injuries last season.
He has already secured a permanent deal for winger Ahmed Elmohamady, the only one of his loan signings so far to agree a permanent switch, while the club snapped up Connor Wickham, Craig Gardner, Ji Dong-won and free signings Keiren Westwood and Sebastian Larsson in a flurry of transfer activity ahead of yesterday's return for pre-season training.
Sunderland have also announced that they have appointed legal director Margaret Byrne as the club's new chief executive following a restructuring of the board.
The Black Cats today revealed that the 31-year-old, who they describe as 'a rising star in both legal circles and the football industry' will take over from Steve Walton, whose departure was announced last night.
Chairman Niall Quinn said: 'Margaret has been a true driving force at the club since her appointment here more than four years ago and the fact that the club has gone from strength to strength on and off the pitch in that period is no coincidence.
'She has enormous passion for our football club and as its CEO, she will continue with the fantastic work that has gone before and will play a key role as the club continues to grow.'
In addition, Angela Lowes has joined the Board as finance director after 11 years in the club's finance department.
