Gavin McCann will discuss personal terms with Aston Villa after the midlands club agreed a £2.25million fee with Sunderland.
The 25-year-old could now be set for a quick return to the Barclaycard Premiership after suffering relegation with the Black Cats last season.
McCann, who joined Sunderland in 1998 in a £500,000 deal from Everton, has one England cap to his name, awarded in Sven-Goran Eriksson's first match in charge against Spain more than two years ago.
His signing would be the first by Villa since David O'Leary succeeded Graham Taylor as manager in May.
If McCann can agree terms he will link up with the rest of the Villa squad on their pre-season tour of Finland.
The tour began with a 3-0 win over Turku, with Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel netting twice and insisting he is finally beginning to feel settled at the club.
"If you'd asked me if I had a future at Aston Villa six months ago, I would have said no. But now it's different," he told the club's official website, www.avfc.co.uk.
"We've just started, we've been working for two weeks and I'm very, very happy with the way we've been working in pre-season. We can speak again in a few months' time, but at the moment I'm feeling really happy."