Aston Villa have completed the signing of Joleon Lescott, the club have confirmed today.
Joining from Villa's rivals West Bromwich Albion, Lescott has signed a two-year-deal, with the transfer fee believed to be around £1 million.
A deal which went down to the wire
Bolstering their squad just hours before the window closes may be seen as something of a panic buy by Tim Sherwood, especially with him conducting the majority of his business extremely early on in the window.
However, thinking about it in more detail, the deal makes much more sense in relation to West Brom's transfer developments.
They've only purchased Jonny Evans from Manchester United in recent days, and it's him who seems to have taken Lescott's space in Tony Pulis' squad. This freed up Villa to move for the player, and thus complete negotiations swiftly, despite it being so late in the window.
Eleventh heaven for Villa
Lescott becomes Villa's 12th signing of the summer, and is the final piece of the huge jigsaw that is Sherwood's squad overhaul.
They've spent well over £50million, and can now start a team full of entirely new recruits, with Lescott joining Jordan Amavi, Micah Richards and Jose Angel-Crespo in the defence.
It's likely to be Richards partnering Lescott in the heart of defence, due to him being named as the team captain just weeks ago. This could see Ciaran Clark, who recently signed a new long term contract, pushed to the substitutes bench.
Last stop for Lescott?
The move to Villa is another twist in the long career of Lescott. At the age of 33, he still has two or three strong years left in him as a centre back, but will admit that he has struggled to settle since his Everton days.
212 apperances in a six year senior spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers earned him a move to Merseyside, where he made his name as a leading defender, getting called up to the England squad as a result.
The Blues cashed in on him when money mad Manchester City came calling, but he struggled for consistency in his five year spell at the Etihad, making an average of 20 appearances per season.
Moving to West Brom last year, he made 35 appearances, and played his last game on Saturday in the 1-0 win over Stoke City.
Villa might be the last club of his career, and it's a challenge that he must get right to finish on a high.