"?Aston Villa are finally ready to appoint a new manager following the departure of Remi Garde in March, with Champions League winning coach Roberto Di Matteo set to be confirmed in the role in the next couple of days as the club plans their assault on the Championship.
According to the Sun, Di Matteo held productive talks with Villa chairman Steven Hollis last week before details of a contract worth £35,000-per-week were discussed over the course of the weekend.
The retired former Italian international has been the choice of new Villa owner Tony Xia ever since the Chinese businessman formally agreed a £60m deal to buy the club from Randy Lerner last month.
The newspaper has revealed that Hollis was simply 'bowled over' by what Di Matteo had to say and could offer the club, while Nigel Pearson recently taking the vacant manager job at Derby County is also likely to have had an impact.
Despite his obvious European credentials and résumé with Chelsea, Di Matteo certainly has a history of success lower down the Football League ladder.
His maiden managerial appointment came with MK Dons in 2008 and he guided the club to the League One playoffs at the very first attempt. That was enough to earn him a move to West Brom, with whom he achieved automatic promotion to the Premier League in 2010.
Since leaving Chelsea in the autumn of 2012 after an underwhelming start to the season following Champions League success the previous summer, Di Matteo has also worked in Germany where he spent seven months in charge at Schalke in 2014/15.
Xia's ultimate goal for Aston Villa is to make the stay in the Championship as brief as possible with promises of £30m-£50m being made available for transfers. He then want to see the club re-establish itself among the top six in the Premier League and qualify for Europe.
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