Aston Villa owner Dr Tony Xia has admitted that he mulled over a takeover approach of Premier League outfit West Brom before moving to the club.
Speaking exclusively to the Birmingham Mail, the 40-year-old Chinese businessman opened up about his decision to complete a full takeover of the Championship outfit just over a year ago.
Xia, who is chairman of business consortium The Recon Group, ousted former Villa Park chief Randy Lerner from his post at the club shortly after they were relegated from the Premier League.
But the outspoken chief has admitted that he could have ended up fronting the finances at West Brom instead of for Aston Villa, having arranged to meet ex-Albion owner Jeremy Peace for talks last year.
However, Xia quickly made up his mind over which club to choose, insisting that Aston Villa offered a more attractive prospect for his enterprise.
He believed that despite their relegation, Aston Villa were the “bigger club” and had “far greater potential” than the current Premier League side, who finished eighth in the division last season.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, limped to a disappointing 13th place finish in the Championship, which left them 18 points adrift of the play-offs and a shot at promotion.
The Baggies have since been taken over by Xia’s fellow countryman, Guochuan Lai, who completed his move to the club in September last year.
However, in his new role as Aston Villa owner, Xia has injected vast sums into the day-to-day running of the club, particularly in the transfer market as they splashed the cash over the past 12 months.
Aston Villa spent in excess of £50million during the summer transfer window, as Roberto Di Matteo sought wholesale changes to his newly-inherited side.
Meanwhile, while they spent a further £20million in January under new manager Steve Bruce, who replaced the doomed Di Matteo after an ill-fated spell in October.