​ Aston Villa have ​confirmed the 100% sale of the club from the ownership of American businessman Randy Lerner to Chinese based company Recon Group, headed by Dr Tony Jiantong Xia after an agreement was signed.





The deal is still subject to Premier League and Football League approval but is set to bring Lerner's decade-long association with Villa to an end, with Dr Xia set to become chairman once everything is fully sealed and a new board appointed.

The club also confirmed that an announcement regarding a new manager following the departure of Remi Garde in March will be made sooner rather than later.





According to Villa's statement, Dr Xia has been a fan of the club for "many years" already and wants his purchase of the fallen west midlands giant to be "the cornerstone of his Sports, Leisure and Tourism Division".





The statement additionally read, "Dr Xia's immediate objective is to return Aston Villa to the Premier League and then to have the Club finish in the top six, bringing European football back to Villa Park. He plans to make Aston Villa the most famous football Club in China with a huge fan base."

Lerner, meanwhile, issued a lengthy parting message.





"As I've said, it was my hope that ownership and custodianship of the club would have been transferred some years ago when I knew that personal and professional matters made it impossible for me to contribute the time I did in my first five years with the club," he explained.





"As I expect this to be my last message to supporters through the Villa website I thought it worth reiterating that my approach from the beginning, consistent with my longstanding affection for The Trinity, was in three parts: Villa Park infrastructure, Bodymoor Heath infrastructure and the Villa squad.





"In being sadly more than tone deaf, I'll not weakly risk trying to sound any positive notes. But what I will say is that if spending to restore and preserve the wonderful Jacobean Holte Hotel at the southern tip of the ground, or researching and adding the Holte End mosaic as a nostalgic nod to that wonderful Leitch Stand of our past, add to the tally of personal losses then I can offer no counter argument other than to say I would do the same all over."

Discussing what Xia will bring, Lerner added, "Tony has built his career around infrastructure. He is certainly a hugely successful businessman but importantly for me he is passionate about architecture, site design and planning.





"His commitment to invest in the squad, and leadership at Bodymoor Heath was expressed early on but as we visited together, and had some unrushed time to discuss his plans, Tony's excitement to develop Villa Park shone through."

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