So, it seems that former West Brom and Chelsea manager, Roberto Di Matteo is set for a return to management with new Villa owner, Tony Xia targeting the Italian.
Xia has publicly announced his intentions to bring Di Matteo to club with an announcement expected to happen in the coming days, so is he the right man to guide Aston Villa back into the Premier League? Let’s look at his credentials.
After a very successful playing career, Di Matteo took the leap of faith into management and his journey began in League One with MK Dons back in 2008. As debut seasons go, Di Matteo enjoyed a good one, he finished third, reaching the play-off semi-final.
That season, his MK Dons side finished only behind Peterborough in second and now Premier League champions, Leicester City, who won the league. He took the semi-final on penalties against Scunthorpe United.
He would only stay with the Dons for the one season, in the summer of 2009 he was appointed as West Brom manager following their relegation from the Championship, an experience that could be vital for him now.
It’ll be music to the ear’s of Villa fans to hear that he won automatic promotion back to the Premier League with three games to spare in his first season.
His first two seasons in management, albeit nearly a decade ago, will be crucial to whether or not he succeeds at Villa Park next season. He has a great knowledge of the English game, both as a player and a manager.
It seemed as if it was a two-horse race between Di Matteo and Nigel Pearson, with the former Leicester boss being talked up the favourite due to his Football League experience, but Di Matteo will still have plenty to offer.
His season in the Premier League was a mixed one, his West Brom squad started reasonably well, but his a poor run of form halfway through the season and despite being very popular among the Baggies fans, he left the club before the end of the season in 2011.
His dismissal at West Brom led to some time away from coaching, he revisited one of his former sides, Chelsea, to become the first-team assistant to the then manager, Andre Villas-Boas.
However, within a matter of months, he was back in the hot seat, Villas-Boas had been fired and Di Matteo took charge until the end of the season.
What happened next for Di Matteo was nothing short of a miracle for the club, he guided them to an FA Cup and Champions League double that season. A trophy that they’ve craved for so long, secured on penalties against Bayern Munich in their own ground.
Whilst Di Matteo was in charge at Chelsea, it was almost as if the club didn’t have a manager. He was acting more as a coach and motivator, he took training and the players would all but pick the team themselves, such was the player power in the Stamford Bridge dressing room.
This was not Di Matteo’s fault, he was not simply being over-powered, he saw what he had available to him, he knew the players around him very well and vice versa, had he tried to take too much control and put his stamp on the team, it’s unlikely that they would have won the trophy.
Despite his historic achievements at Stamford Bridge, after signing a two-year contract, he would be sacked the following year after failing to make it out of the group stages of the Champions League.
Following his time at Chelsea, he had a brief spell at Schalke in the Bundesliga in 2014 but resigned after only one season when they failed to qualify for the Champions League.
One thing Villa fans may have picked up by reading this is his lack of longevity in any of his former jobs. Di Matteo has never managed to complete any more than two full seasons at a club, and that could worry the Villa Park faithful.
However, there are plenty of reasons to be ambitious, Di Matteo would be seen as a coup for Villa given his recent history managing in the Champions League. He knows the English game well, and he’ll understand the nature of the job he’ll be given.
Di Matteo will be fully aware of the size of the club and the fact that it truly deserves to be in the top flight of English football. He’ll need to be given the time and the trust from the new owners.
You’d think by the way that they have outlined Di Matteo as the man for the job, he’ll get that. There will be plenty of changes to the squad this summer and Di Matteo will want a good mix of experience and youth players available to him.
On the whole, the Italian could be a great choice for the new owners coming into the club and can definitely take the club back to the Premier League, as his track record proves. They’ve shown ambition, now they’ve got to stand by their word.
