Gareth Southgate will be offered a £1.5million-a-year contract until 2020 to manage England.
FA chiefs are convinced interim boss Southgate is the right man for the job and serious negotiations will begin after Tuesday night’s friend with Spainly at Wembley.
The deal will include a break clause in 2018 but will also feature big bonuses and incentives, even though it is worth less in basic-wage terms than the deals given to his two predecessors Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce.
It is believed Southgate, 46, wants a long-term deal beyond the World Cup in 2018, as he believes he needs time and patience to stamp his authority on the role.
The FA have set up a four-man panel – Howard Wilkinson, chairman Greg Clarke, chief executive Martin Glenn and director of elite development Dan Ashworth – to make the appointment.
Southgate wants the matter resolved before Christmas, and it is understood former Watford boss Aidy Boothroyd will get the Under-21s job he’s currently performing as caretaker on a permanent basis having been promoted from within.
Former Middlesbrough chief Southgate ticks all the boxes for the FA and, even though they will go through the managerial selection process both sides are privately convinced it is just a matter of putting pen to paper.
Any 2018 break clause could be open to both sides but, despite insisting he has yet to declare his interest, privately Southgate wants the job and FA sources believe it will be done relatively quickly.
Southgate tried to play down talk about his future again on Monday, but he is well aware that serious discussions will begin immediately after the Spain match, with the job effectively his once England beat Scotland in a World Cup qualifier last Friday night.
“I don’t think now is the time for those discussions,” he said. “I’ve said everything is about the team.
“I’m not a coach for whom what happens to me is the most important thing.
“First and foremost in these four matches I was asked to pick up, the team are in a healthy qualifying position and that’s been done.”
