Reports in Spain this morning suggest a deal has been struck for Pellegrini, the Villarreal coach, to take over from Juande Ramos in the Madrid hotseat.

Pellegrini, who still has a year left on his contract with the Yellow Submarine, could be installed as early as tomorrow as Perez wastes no time implementing his plan to take Madrid back to the top.

Perez was confirmed as Madrid president soon after midnight following confirmation by the club that no other candidate had put themselves forward for election before the May 31 deadline.

The three possible challengers to Perez, Eugenio Martinez Bravo, Juan Onieva and Eduardo Garcia, all pulled out of the running in the last fortnight, with the 57.4million euro bank guarantee seeming to be the big stumbling block.

That left Perez unopposed to return to the post he held for six highly eventful years until resigning in 2006.

"We want to return Madrid to the place where they should be," said Perez at a ceremony at the Bernabeu today.

Madrid's new board of directors also confirmed various other positions had been filled, including Jorge Valdano as director general and presidential aide, Miguel Pardeza as sporting director, and former FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane as an advisor to Perez.

Madrid ended this season empty-handed as arch rivals Barcelona claimed a clean sweep of Primera Division, Copa del Rey and Champions League trophies.

On top of that, Madrid have not managed to progress beyond the last 16 of the Champions League in any of the last five years, and Perez is determined to see the Spanish giants become a world force once again.

"It's an honour and a tremendous responsibility," added Perez.

"We know what we are getting into and what is expected of us. We are going to work with all our strength.

"We must recover as soon as possible the dreams, the stability and the time that have been lost."

The 62-year-old businessman takes over from Vicente Boluda, who has been in the post since Ramon Calderon stepped down in January in the wake of allegations of voting irregularities at the club's last general assembly in December.

Perez's first main objective as president looks set to be the arrival of Pellegrini.

A host of big-name coaches have been linked to the post, but it seems that Pellegrini is the man to replace Ramos, whose six-month contract runs out this summer.

The 55-year-old Chilean has been at Villarreal since 2004, and although he has not guided them to any major silverware he has helped turn the club into one of Spain's top sides.