Richard Dunne's Everton nightmare will soon come to an end if the player can agree personal terms with Manchester City.

City boss Joe Royle tabled a £3m bid for the Republic of Ireland centre back over the weekend and Everton boss Walter Smith has accepted it.

Now it is down to Dunne as to whether the move goes through. He travels to Maine Road today to talk personal terms and could be named their player as early as this evening.

Dunne, who wants to play at centre back, was being forced to play at full back at Everton which left him frustrated.

In the last couple of months things have taken a serious turn for the worse as manager Walter Smith takes the opportunity to drop him whenever a flimsy excuse rears it head.

Dunne was supposed to join Wimbledon last month but at the last minute the south London club's owners pulled the plug on the deal, leaving Dons manager Terry Burton frustrated.

The move to Maine Road will be a good one for the 21-year-old Dubliner, who is in the most impressive run of his career.

He is making one of the centre-back slots in the Irish team his own after great displays against Holland, Portugal and Estonia and first-team football can only make him a better player.

Another plus factor is that he will be joining up with manager Joe Royle again.

When Royle managed Everton he had no problem using the then 17-year-old Dunne for first-team football and now that City are trying to stay in the Premiership the Irishman could be an important acquisition to make their dream a reality.