Aston Villa are confident appointing Steven Gerrard as new manager in the coming days.
Rangers boss Gerrard has been the No 1 target for owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens and chief executive Christian Purslow ever since Dean Smith was sacked last Sunday.
Rangers would be owed about £2.5million in compensation for the former Liverpool and England captain, with negotiations over salary and length of contract expected to proceed smoothly once he and Villa were granted permission to communicate directly, says the Daily Mail.
Villa players are ready for a new manager to take training next week ahead of their Premier League meeting with Brighton on November 20, when the plan is for Gerrard, 41, to be in the dug-out at Villa Park.
Bookmakers stopped taking bets on Gerrard being announced and there is resignation in Glasgow that his three-and-a-half year reign will almost certainly end in the next 48 hours.
It is anticipated Gerrard's key allies at Ibrox - assistants Tommy Culshaw and Gary McAllister, first-team coach Michael Beale, who was last month the subject of interest from Cardiff, and head of performance Jordan Milsom would follow him.
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