Oscar Garcia will be Albion's next manager, according to a top expert on Spanish football.

Guillem Balague, Sky Sports' correspondent in Spain, tweeted this morning that Garcia is Gus Poyet's successor at The Amex.

Former Barcelona midfielder Garcia guided Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Israel title last season before quitting for personal reasons.

Maccabi have reported that their head fitness coach Juan Torrijo Navaro and assistant coach Ruben Martinez are leaving to join forces with Garcia again in his next job.

Maccabi's sports director, Jordi Cruyff, said: "We fully understand their desire to continue their partnership with Oscar Garcia."

Eyal Gil, sports editor of Maccabi newspaper Haaretz, told The Argus: "Everyone in Israel is reporting they are going to join Oscar at Brighton but it is not official yet."

Garcia has been the hot favourite with bookmakers for weeks to become Albion manager.

Chairman Tony Bloom said on Monday he hoped to have an interim manager in place by Thursday following Poyet's sacking for alleged breaches of contract.

Poyet's appeal against the decision is expected to last three weeks.