Martin O'Neill is on the verge of becoming Aston Villa's new manager. Sources claim the charismatic O'Neill is "99 per cent  certain" to replace David O'Leary and return to Premiership football after a six-year absence.

It is believed a few personal and professional details have to be ironed out but the signs are O'Neill is ready to commit himself to the midlands club.

That would enable the Derry man to take charge of Villa's pre-season tour of Germany and Holland which begins with Saturday's clash in Hanover.

O'Neill has been chairman Doug Ellis' number-one target ever since O'Leary parted company with Villa just over a fortnight ago. He has been weighing up whether to end a 15-month exile from the game after quitting as Celtic manager in May 2005 to look after his sick wife Geraldine.

O'Neill has been mulling over whether to move to Villa Park despite the uncertainty surrounding the future of the club with four consortiums vying to take control but it now looks like he is ready to take the plunge.

The groups led by American billionaire Randy Lerner, life-long Villa fan Michael Neville, deputy judge Nicholas Padfield QC and Sven-Goran Eriksson's agent Athole Still have all indicated they would be happy with O'Neill at the
helm.

His tried and trusted backroom team of John Robertson - a former team-mate at Nottingham Forest - and Steve Walford will link up with O'Neill.

It is understood O'Neill is ready to commit himself now because of the time needed to assess the quality of the current squad and what new blood is to be brought in before the transfer window closes on August 31st.

The alternative would have been to wait until a new consortium had been put in place but it could take months before the details are ironed out.

O'Neill is ambitious and will not settle for bottom-half-of-the-table mediocrity with Villa, which suggests Ellis will decide to sell to enable much needed funds to be brought in for a spending spree.

There is no doubt O'Neill is the kind of inspirational figure needed to lift Villa out of the doldrums and they only just avoided relegation from the Premiership last season.

He cut his managerial teeth at Shepshed Charterhouse, Grantham and Wycombe before performing wonders with an average group of players at Leicester. O'Neill guided the Foxes to four successive top-10 finishes in the Premiership and two League Cup final triumphs.

Then he went to Celtic in 2000 and transformed their fortunes in taking Scottish dominance away from Rangers.