ROY KEANE will be confirmed as Aston Villa's assistant manager only weeks after turning down the opportunity to be No.1 at Celtic.

Villa want to push through a deal with Keane when he returns from the Republic of Ireland's summer tour of North America which concludes with a friendly against Portugal on Wednesday.

Filling the role at Villa would not unduly impinge on his duties with the Republic and would allow him to continue his work as a pundit with ITV, though he has withdrawn from their team for the World Cup to focus on his coaching career.