Aston Villa have announced the appointment of Remi Garde as their new manager.
Garde, who succeeds Tim Sherwood at Villa Park, has signed a contract until the end of the 2018-19 season.
French broadcaster Canal+ said on Sunday that the Frenchman would take over at Villa and the Premier League club themselves confirmed his arrival on Monday.
Breaking news: Introducing our new manager Rémi Garde. Full story here: https://t.co/YRJO9ynSVG #AVFC #WelcomeRémi pic.twitter.com/BoaXXEaN9B
- Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) November 2, 2015
The former Arsenal player, who won the Coupe de France during a three-year spell as coach of Lyon, takes over with Villa sitting bottom of the Premier League and four points from safety.
Garde is expected to be in the White Hart Lane stands on Monday night for Villa's clash with Tottenham, while his first game in charge will be Sunday's visit of Manchester City.
"It is an unbelievable honour to be the manager of such an illustrious football club," Garde, who has become Villa's fifth manager in the last five years, told the club's official website.
"I've had extremely positive meetings with both the owner, Randy Lerner, and chief executive Tom Fox. They have ambitious plans for the club and I'm excited that they have turned to me to help them realise them.
"Obviously we have a difficult task in front of us but I'm looking forward to the challenge with the support of everyone who loves Aston Villa."
Garde held talks with Newcastle earlier this year when the Magpies were looking to replace Alan Pardew.
The Frenchman won the Premier League with Arsenal in 1998 and made 45 appearances for the Gunners after joining in 1996, before retiring three years later. He also played for Lyon for six years, before moving to Strasbourg in 1993 and won six caps for his country.
Villa chairman Randy Lerner added: "Remi came with ideas, honesty, humour and a steely sense of what it will take for Aston Villa to be what it is meant to be -- hard working, tireless, creative and unwilling to concede.
"Nobody at Villa can deny that we are way behind. We recruited aggressively this past summer and it is our responsibility to now harvest this talent rather than buckle under pressure and criticism -- we are better than that.
"On behalf of the board we wish Remi every success."
Information from the Press Association was used in this report.