Birmingham are set to finally complete the signing of Aston Villa central defender Liam Ridgewell in the next 24 hours.

Blues boss Steve Bruce has been tracking the England Under-21 player since the start of the year.

Birmingham had a £2million bid rejected in January and also failed with an attempt to take Ridgewell on loan before the transfer window closed after the departure of Matthew Upson to West Ham.

Bruce has continued to monitor Ridgewell's situation and a fee of around £2.5 million is finally set to persuade Villa chief Martin O'Neill to part with the player.