Aston Villa's New Owner Tony Xia Targets European Glory Within 10 Years
"?New Aston Villa owner Tony Xia is aiming to take the club to the Champions League and win it in the next 10 years, according to "?SkySports.
The Chinese Businessman has already appointed former Schalke and Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo in a bid to rebuild the club under an established manager. They will be hoping to repeat the trophy winning campaign of 1982 at some point, which saw Villa lift the European Cup after defeating Bayern Munich.
#AVFC delighted to confirm the sale of the Club to Recon Group, owned by Dr Tony Xia. Story: https://t.co/NEfzXv2muM pic.twitter.com/gtpBEwHzGd
In preparation for their first fight outside the top tier since 1987, Tony Xia has made his intentions fairly clear as the club look to achieve the tricky feat of bouncing straight back into the Premier League from the Championship.
He said, "We don't have a very detailed plan but we have a vision that we will challenge to get back into the Premier League and we will be challenging when we get back. The aim, not just the hope, is to get back in European field within five years and I wish we can succeed to get another trophy like we have here in eight or 10 years. That is not an exact number, but we want to win the European Cup."
One area that Xia is already aware of as a problem that may need some attention is Aston Villa's recruitment structure. They spent £55m last season on some new players and only won three games. Xia is already critical of current director of scouting and recruitment Paddy Riley, and said, "Honestly, everyone should agree with me, that he didn't do too well."
It remains to be seen how much Aston Villa will need to reform in order to gain automatic promotion from the Championship, especially with competition like Newcastle and Norwich looking to do the same. What is clear so far is that the new owner and manager are both unified in their realization that a massive change of direction is needed at Aston Villa.
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