Owner Tony Xia paves way for fresh investment to ease Aston Villa cash crisis

Documents filed at Companies House for Villa’s parent company, the Recon Group, confirm Xia has given himself the legal power to create additional shares and potentially sell a stake in the club.

It is thought Xia, who returned to China the day after Villa’s play-off final defeat to Fulham last month, is currently seeking an investor in his homeland who can come on board and provide a cash injection to help ease the financial pressures.

Villa came within a whisker of being hit with a winding-up order by HMRC after missing a tax payment and it still remains unclear whether the owner has sufficient funds to pay the next round of bills, due at the end of next week.

A number of groups have expressed an interest in purchasing the club, with Villa’s Supporters’ Trust yesterday confirming they had also approached Xia with the offer of financial support.

But for now Xia remains determined to hang on and his asking price of £80million remains prohibitive to any potential buyer.

Xia is listed as the sole director of the Recon Group at Companies House and the documents, which were signed off the day before the play-off final on May 25, give him the power to allot shares and sell them at an agreed rate.

The Trust have, meanwhile, demanded an urgent meeting with Villa’s board as they seek clarity on the current financial health.

Villa are also due to meet with EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey, who will want proof the club have the funds in place for next season.

Even if Xia is able to solve the cash crisis, Villa still face a tough summer as they need to raise around £40million in order to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations.

Jack Grealish is likely to be sold in order to help plug the gap, with Villa believing their star man can bring in a fee of more than £25million.

An expected £15million bid from Tottenham will be rejected as Villa hope interest from other clubs can spark a bidding war and help drive up the price.

James Chester and Jonathan Kodjia could also leave, though their sales would have significantly less of an impact on the FFP issue than that of a homegrown talent like Grealish.