Deals
Chinese Aston Villa Owner Also Held Talks for Southampton Team
- Xia was in talks for Southampton in the run-up to Villa deal
- Now he’s frustrated by the sport’s resistance to change
Tony Xia.
Photographer: Malcolm Couzens/Sportimage/AP PhotoThis article is for subscribers only.
For Chinese businessman Tony Xia, it didn’t matter whether he bought Aston Villa or Southampton, as long as he bought an English soccer team.
"It wasn’t just Southampton, we also held discussions with a lot of clubs," Xia said in an interview in Beijing last week. "Even if we didn’t buy Villa, we would have entered the sports industry through other means."