Edelman told News of the World: “We would love to win the Champions League. It’s one trophy we haven’t won and if we did it would be another step towards being regarded as one of the biggest clubs — if not THE biggest — in the world.
“Milan is a tough draw but you expect that at this stage. It promises to be a fascinating encounter between their experience and our youth.
“While other clubs in England have gone down a route of foreign ownership to grow we have gone our own way and now feel in a very strong position.
“A lot is made of the number of foreign players we have but, as a club, we remain English. We have retained our soul. We haven’t sold off the silver.
“In a way, that gives us a glow of satisfaction. We have our own style of doing things which, you could say, is not too dissimilar to clubs like Real Madrid or Barcelona.
“We think it’s important we carry on that way both on and off the pitch
“We are very close to Real Madrid in terms of revenue.
“United will bring their figures out soon and they may be a bit bigger than us at the moment and it will take us a few years to make another leap. But we are heading in the right direction. Already we are one of the biggest clubs in the world but, of course, to win the European Cup can only help us attract even more support around the world and really challenge to be regarded as the biggest.
“When we were building the stadium we knew that once it was finished we would be in a much better place.
“Yes, we had a few tough years because we didn’t have that extra revenue which we are now getting from the stadium and all the other revenue streams associated with it — like sponsorship, naming rights, etc.
“We always look at our own canoe and we are very pleased with where we are going.
“Over 10 years we have been developing. Financially, we are very strong now. We feel this is the start of a very good long period for us.
“Our fanbase is growing very fast at present, especially in the Far East — places like Vietnam and Thailand — and we’re doing a lot in America.
“In five years, our internet users have grown from one million to 2.5m, while our season ticket waiting list is a remarkable 45,000.”
