Tony Xia is reportedly in talks to buy another football club with a view of building strong connections with Aston Villa as part of a bigger plan for global brand domination.
The wealthy Chinese businessman is still waiting for the Football League to give his takeover of the West Midlands outfit the green light, but that hasn’t stopped him from making big plans for their future.
Villa are still without a manager and need to strengthen their squad ahead of their first season in the Championship, and Xia’s priority will have to be on ensuring that they make a swift return to the Premier League.
However, as part of his grander plan to build a network of football clubs around the world, similar to the City Football Group, he is discussing the possibility of owning a Chinese Super League outfit, according to The Birmingham Mail.
It is also reported that he intends on running clubs in the United States and India, and while it all sounds very exciting and ambitious with Villa understood to be the centre of his football operations, it will naturally also raise some concern too.
With the club going through a desperately bad spell in their history, they need an owner and manager fully committed to restoring their pride and getting them back into the top flight as soon as possible.
Building their global recognition and increasing revenues is promising, but that must then be reflected in the team itself and not have the club merely used as a pawn in a bigger picture.
Xia’s initial statements have been promising but time will tell whether or not he is able to at least move Villa closer to the heady global heights that he envisages for their future.