Reading are to appoint former Southampton head coach Ruben Selles as their new manager.
The 40-year-old Spaniard will take over subject to him obtaining a visa, which the club applied for last week.
Selles took charge of Southampton following Nathan Jones’ departure in February but only won two of his 17 matches at the helm as Saints finished bottom of the Premier League.
He succeeds Paul Ince, who was sacked by Reading in April.
Selles takes over a Reading side that were relegated to League One last season after having six points docked for breaching the terms of a business plan for a previous profit and sustainability rule infringement.
The club are currently under a transfer embargo from the English Football League resulting from that breach, the non-payment of loan wages and non-payment of tax.
Selles’ first competitive game in charge – Reading’s first in the third tier since 2002 – will be at home to beaten play-off semi-finalists Peterborough United.
“We now await a decision on his work visa before he is able to get to work on revitalising this Royals squad and recruiting players to be part of the rebuild at Reading,” a short statement on the Reading website said.
Reading’s final five games of last season were under interim manager Noel Hunt, who stepped up from his role as under-21’s head coach, but he was unable to prevent relegation to League One.
The Royals have not yet released details about the length of Selles’ contract or any coaching staff he will bring with him.
Having not had a career as a player, Selles took his Uefa Pro Licence aged 25 and became a youth coach at Villarreal before taking on roles in Greece, Russia and Azerbaijan – where he was assistant manager at Qarabag.
In the summer of 2018 he moved to a similar role at Danish club Aarhus, then became Valencia’s youth manager before returning to Denmark as assistant manager at FC Copenhagen.
Last June he left to become Ralf Hasenhuttl’s number two at Southampton and was placed in temporary charge in November when the Austrian was sacked.
He stayed on when Nathan Jones took over at St Mary’s and then took the reins when the Welshman left.
Selles left Saints last month after being told his contract would not be renewed following the club’s relegation.
He joins Reading at a difficult time in their history – they have financial problems and a number of fan groups are demanding owner Dai Yongge sells the club as soon as possible.
The Royals have sold a number of their higher-earning players in recent weeks as they try and get ready for life in the third tier.
Should the club remain under an embargo Selles will be forced to use free transfers and have restrictions placed on the amount of money the club can spend on wages.
