Chinese businessman Xia Jiantong will become the owner of English football team Aston Villa in a 60 million pound deal. The club was demoted this season from the English Premier League to the second-tier Championship league. Aston Villa confirmed the release on its website Wednesday evening.
It followed day-long speculation that the club had been sold to a Chinese consortium. Xia Jiantong will become Aston Villa’s new chairman after the Rui Kang Group bought the club in a deal brokered in China.
The club says Xia is the Chairman/CEO and owner of Recon Group. He was among the initial 25 highly rated graduates out of 1,000 inviting back by Chinese government after spending six years at Harvard and MIT.