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New Aston Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo has said he must rebuild the fallen club, and is closing in on defender Tommy Elphick as his first signing. Di Matteo was officially unveiled at Villa Park on Wednesday after new owner Dr Tony Xia's £75 million takeover was rubber-stamped on Tuesday. The club have wasted no time in recruitment and are in advanced discussions with Bournemouth captain Elphick, Press Association Sport has reported. He is set to be the first part of Di Matteo's squad revamp after Villa won just three games as they were relegated from the Premier League last season. And Italian Di Matteo knows the size of the task he faces. He said: "It's a rebuilding job. The last three or four years it has been a club in decline and relegation topped that off last season. "I know it will be difficult, and I have to turn things around. We need to turn a team that has struggled into a strong competitive team. All aspects need to be looked at. "What I believe is that we need a united group, people who are willing to fight for the club in the Championship. They need to put their services into the good of the team, for the good of the team. "It will be a big job but, with the right personnel, we can do well. It is an exciting project, a new start, new ownership and management. "We will take it from there and try and do everything we can within reason to help us and guide us. "The objective is to get promotion this year. It will take time to sort the team out, and we want results yesterday instead of today." Former West Brom and Reading boss Steve Clarke has joined as Di Matteo's assistant with ex-Tottenham No.2 Kevin Bond the new first-team coach. Xia has previously said Di Matteo would have between £30-40m to spend on new players with Elphick, who helped Bournemouth win the Championship in 2015, one of a number targeted. "That [money] is something that I will talk about with Robbie, we will do whatever we can to support him," the 39-year-old Xia, who bought Villa from former owner Randy Lerner, said. "This is a new challenge and I am looking forward to working with Roberto, Keith [Wyness], and everyone else. I want to take this club back to the right place."
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