http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11677/10302692/
Roberto Di Matteo confirmed as Aston Villa manager
By Sky Sports News HQ - Last Updated: 03/06/16 1:07pm
Aston Villa have confirmed the appointment of Roberto Di Matteo as their
new manager on a two-year contract.
Di Matteo was identified as new owner Dr Tony Xia's preferred choice at
the time of his takeover.
The 46-year-old Italian won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2012 but
has not managed in the second tier of English football since 2009-10, when
he won promotion for West Brom.
Another former West Brom manager, Steve Clarke, is expected to be named as
Di Matteo's assistant later on Friday - Clarke has previously been a
member of Jose Mourinho's coaching staff at Chelsea and at Liverpool where
he worked under Kenny Dalglish.
Villa will be Di Matteo's fifth club after spells at MK Dons, West Brom,
Chelsea and Schalke. He has taken charge of 167 games in that time and won
82 of them, a win rate of 49 per cent.
The Birmingham club have been without a permanent manager since Remi Garde
left in March, with Eric Black completing the season in caretaker charge
of the team.
Di Matteo said: "It's a wonderful honour for me to become manager of this
great football club and I'm looking forward to the challenge of taking
Aston Villa back to its rightful place."
Aston Villa were relegated from the Premier League with just 17 points
after a very poor campaign in which they won only three league games and
were beaten 27 times.
They were sold to Xia last month after being put on the market by Randy
Lerner in 2014. It is understood Xia paid between ￡60m and ￡70m for the
club which New York-based investor Lerner bought 10 years ago.
Xia has confirmed he is willing to spend large sums of money on players
during the next transfer window to help get Aston Villa straight back into
the Premier League.