As part of the drive to try to get Villa promoted back to the Barclays Premier League as soon as possible, Xia is considering changing the name of the Villa Park – the club’s home since 1897 – possibly to incorporate his health food business.
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“He plans to make Aston Villa the most famous football club in China with a huge fan base”.
United are still in negotiations with Rafa Benitez over his future at the club, while Villa themselves are looking for a new manager to mastermind their promotion push.
However, Xia has high hopes for the club, who are expected to name former Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo as their new manager in the coming days.
Chinese tycoons have been at the forefront of a wave of Asian investment in European football, snapping up stakes in powerhouses Manchester City and Atletico Madrid.
The Recon Group, owned by the 39-year-old businessman, purchased the relegated Premier League club on Wednesday from American Randy Lerner and lofty ambitions are on the agenda.
“Our immediate objective is to return to the Premier League”, Xia said, “We will spend around 50 million pounds ($72 million) this summer to achieve this goal”.
Xia is the chairman and owner of Recon Group.
According to a company statement, Lotus Health is “the largest glutamic acid company in China” and has 12,000 employees and 10,000 distributors in the country.
Lerner, who bought Villa in 2006 for around £60 million, had hoped to sell the club for £200 million, but the team’s dismal form over the last two seasons put off potential investors. I think a lot of Villa fans are eager to get back up to the Premiership, so the next one year will be very tough for me.
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“One of the things we have thought about is using the Lotus Health name to rebrand Villa Park”, Xia said. Villa were relegated from the Premier League this season.
