Roberto Di Matteo: Villa needed rebuilding

The Italian manager together with chief executive Keith Wyness and owner Tony Xia are currently on a three day visit to China.

The trip, to Beijing, has been organised to try and promote Villa to Chinese fans.

And the former Chelsea manager said he was determined to rebuild the club from the foundation up so it can one day be a force again in the Premier League.

Speaking to the Guardian, Di Matteo said: "(It was) a house that needed to be knocked down and start afresh. That's so far what I have seen."

Di Matteo also stopped short of promising Villa would win promotion to the Premier League at the first attempt.

But the boss does believe the signings of Tommy Elphick, Pierluigi Gollini and Aaron Tshibola will make them competitive in the Championship.

"You have to kind of sustain a level of performance in the Championship to be able to come out of it at the end of the season," he continued.

"By signing three new players, we have already identified players that we believe will help us guide the team into a very challenging season."

While Di Matteo is still looking to trim his squad, he vowed last season's underperforming players – including Gabriel Agbonlahor – will be given the chance to impress.

He said: "I don't think it is fair to judge people just on what happened in the last 12 months."

Asked how many players he would like to bring in before the season kicks off on 7 August, he added: "I don't want to put it into numbers.

"I'm certainly looking to freshen up the squad but I don't know if it is one more, three more or four more."

Di Matteo also did not rule out signing Chinese players but said they will only be brought to the club if they are good enough.

"Obviously if there is a Chinese player that has the quality and the ability we will certainly be looking to recruit," he said.

"But I think the main focus is to get promoted with Aston Villa. That is the main focus of the chairman, the owner and everyone involved in the club."