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10th August 2016
08:17pm BST

As you can probably expect, the bold statement was met with ridicule from fans, including some of the Villa Park faithful.
https://twitter.com/CookPassTim/status/763410622587559936
https://twitter.com/dezzaxx_/status/763427703299211264
https://twitter.com/OtisMarlow/status/763415917015535616
https://twitter.com/shaundinning/status/763422259902091265
https://twitter.com/jbreeze2304/status/763409120372330496
Now sure, the prospect of Villa becoming Europe's biggest club might be a little far-fetched when they're not even in the top flight of English football, but there's nothing wrong with dreaming big.
Reading Dr Xia's comments, we can't help but be reminded of Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha pledging to spend big to lift the club into the Premier Leagues top five.
At the time, his comments got remarks like these...
https://twitter.com/samsims2410/status/466636112614928385
https://twitter.com/Dannydraper_/status/466623652847681536
https://twitter.com/jamierye/status/466579638916218880
https://twitter.com/Bartjblett/status/466385072053301248
https://twitter.com/benmhancock/status/466346310023786496
Those comments were made in May 2014, and we all know what happened just two years later.
All we're saying is a lot can happen in two years, let alone five.
At risk of being made to look stupid, we're going to let Dr Xia put his plan in action before laughing off the prospect of European domination for Villa. They do already have a Champions League winning manager, after all.
Sure, it seems ridiculously unlikely, but so did the idea of Leicester winning the league.
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