ABERDEEN have completed their summer revolution with the signing of Sone Aluko on a shock permanent deal from Birmingham.
The capture of the 19-year-old left-winger was finalised at around 5 o'clock today, just hours before the specially extended transfer deadline.
Far from slamming shut, as has so often been the case in the past, this year the transfer window spent 24 hours sliding closed like an old man slipping into a warm bath.
Fans' favourite Aluko played twenty games for Aberdeen, scoring three times including once against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup, before returning south at the end of last season.
And it seemed that there was no hope of Sone returning when he rejected a return north on loan, and went to Blackpool instead.
Dons legend and Director of Football Willie Miller, who was central to the signing coup, said: "The fact Sone has agreed to come here permanently is testimony to how much enjoyed his time at Aberdeen.
"I'm sure our fans will be delighted with the news and, having pulled out all the stops to make this one happen, that will be it as far as this transfer window is concerned."
The late capture of Aluko means he joins seven new faces in total at Pittodrie.
However, that would have been eight were it not for an unexpected complication with only hours of the transfer window to go.
Dons boss Jimmy Calderwood said: "One of the lads got injured in training that we were going to get in, so that's out of the window."
So overall, after the biggest player revolution at the club in years, the Dons overall summer activity looks like this:
IN
Sone Aluko - Birmingham City - £50,000 (three-year deal - ends 2011)
Bertrand Bossu - Walsall - free (two-year deal - ends 2010)
Jared Hodgkiss - West Bromwich Albion - loan (six month - ends Jan 2009)
Mark Kerr - Dundee Utd - free (two-year deal - ends 2010)
Gary McDonald - Oldham - free (two-year deal - ends 2010)
Charlie Mulgrew - Wolves - £100,000 (two-year deal - ends 2010)
Sammy Stewart - Glenavon - £15,000 (two-year deal - ends 2010)
Tommy Wright - Darlington - c.£75,000 (three-year deal - ends 2011)
NEW CONTRACT
Andrew Considine (four-year deal - ends 2012)
Stuart Duff (two-year deal - ends 2010)
Chris 'Phil "Bebo" McGuire' Maguire (three-year deal - ends 2011)
Lee Miller (two-year deal - ends 2010)
OUT
Sone Aluko (Birmingham City (briefly))
Dave Bus (Go Ahead Eagles)
Richie Byrne (unattached)
Steve Lovell (Falkirk)
Alan Maybury (unattached ha ha ha)
Jackie McNamara (Falkirk)
Barry Nicholson (Preston)
Derek Soutar (unattached)
Karim Touzani (Sparta Rotterdam)
Josh Walker (Middlesbrough)