The future Aston Villa owner sends message to the future Aston Villa manager.
Aston Villa’s soon-to-be owner Dr Tony Xia has welcomed manager-in-waiting Roberto Di Matteo to the club with a message on social media.
The Italian is widely expected to be announced as Remi Garde’s successor at Villa Park on Friday (BBC) as a new era awaits Aston Villa, who will play in the Championship next season.
Sunnier days seem to lie ahead for the Villans, whose Premier League relegation has left a bitter taste with the fans following what was truly a dismal campaign which yielded just 17 points – their lowest ever points total in a season.
But in Di Matteo, they look set to appoint a Champions League-winning manager, having won the competition with Chelsea in 2012, as well as one with experience of winning promotion after his West Brom side escaped the second tier in 2010.
Xia wrote on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter: “Roberto! Up Villa! To the pinnacle of Euro football again!”.
The Chinese businessman is expected to complete his buyout of owner Randy Lerner in the coming weeks, having transferred £52 million into an escrow account recently, according to the BBC.
The motion has not yet been ratified by the Premier League but BBC reported recently that the takeover should go ahead.
Ex-Reading boss Steve Clarke is expected to be Di Matteo’s number two at Aston Villa, in what is expected to be a two-year contract for the Italian manager.
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