LONDON, May 21 (Xinhua) -- English Premier League side West Ham are ready to pay Manuel Pellegrini around 10 million pounds a year as he is close to signing a three-year deal with the east London club.

The Chilean was set for talks with co-owner David Sullivan on Monday and West Ham are confident they will be able to confirm his appointment, on a three-year contract, within the next 48 hours, London's Evening Standard newspaper said.

Pellegrini, 64, would immediately become one of the highest earners among Premier League bosses, with only Pep Guardiola, of Manchester City, and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho paid substantially more.

Former Villarreal, Real Madrid, Malaga and Manchester City manager Pellegrini had been earning around 12m pounds a year in charge of Hebei China Fortune but was keen on returning to Europe and parted company with the Chinese Super League club last week.

Hebei announced Pellegrini's departure two days ago, saying "he will not be the club's head coach from May 20 upon mutual and friendly negotiation."

"We feel thankful for Pellegrini's contribution to our club, and wish him good luck in the future," said Hebei right after their 2-1 victory over Chongqing Siwei 2-1 at home on Saturday.

Pellegrini, who led Manchester City to the English title in 2014, joined Hebei in August 2016.

Hebei failed to win a match in the last two rounds and went down to lower half of the Chinese Super League rankings.

After 11 matches of the season, Hebei had 15 points from 4 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses to rank 9th.