Congratulations Ashley Young
Aston Villa winger Ashley Young has won the PFA Young player of the year award.
The 23 year old was signed by Aston Villa in January 2007 for a fee of £8M (Rising to £9.75M with add-ons) from Watford. Young had earlier rejected a £10M move to West Ham. Eyebrows were raised throughout football at the size of the fee for the youngster but Villa boss Martin O’Neill was confident that Young would prove to be a good buy - “Ashley is a really talented player. I have seen a lot of him and I am going to back my judgement. I think he is an exciting player and has got a great touch, great control, plus a wee bit of pace. I am excited with his signing for us”.
Despite criticism over signings such as Carlos Cuellar, Marlon Harewood and Emile Heskey, few will deny that O’Neill pulled off a masterstroke when signing Ashley Young. Despite a debut goal at Newcastle, Young had a fairly slow start to his Villa career and found adjusting to the Premier League more difficult than his manager thought - but has hit new heights this season. His goal assist record makes him one of the most marked and dangerous players in the Premier League. He also looks to have a sparkling career ahead of him in the England side. He finally caught the eye of England coach Fabio Capello this season and made his debut as a half-time substitute for England in a friendly against Austria.
After an eye caching performance against Everton this season, Martin O’Neill was full of praise for the youngster and said “You talk about Ronaldo and Messi. Now, is Ashley Young in that company? Yes, he is — because I’ve just put him in it”. It was high praise indeed from O’Neill. But it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the Villa winger. He was sent off after a lunge on Dean Witehead in Villa’s 2-1 win at the Stadium of Light in January. There’s also a good argument to say that he goes down far too easily and tries to con referees too much. But there’s no escaping his talent. On his day, Young is unplayable - fast, tricky, exciting, unpredictable and with the ability to deliver excellent crosses and score spectacular goals.
Martin O’Neill has called on Young to ‘push on’ after the announcement that Young had won the PFA Young player of the year award. He beat off competition like Stephen Ireland, Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor and Aaron Lennon to join former Villains like Gary Shaw - who won the award in 1981. O’Neill said today “Ashley has had a magnificent season and has come on leaps and bounds. His fellow professionals have made a statement. That speaks volumes. I’m sure he will get even greater rewards in the future if he continues to work at his game.”
Young was delighted with the award but also paid tribute to the club “It’s massive for the club too – it just goes to show how far the club has come. We haven’t had just one nominee – we’ve had two and that’s tremendous. I may have won the award but it’s a team game at the end of the day. If the lads weren’t getting the ball to me, playing well and getting on the end of my crosses, I wouldn’t have won this award. The team have done brilliantly this season and they deserve a lot of credit”.
Young was also named in the Premier League team of the Year which reads like this:
Edwin Van der Sar (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Fernando Torres (Liverpool)
In December last year, Real Madrid were said to be preparing a bid to land Ashley Young but O’Neill had this to say for any interested parties “Ashley is irreplaceable and priceless to us. I wouldn’t contemplate selling him - absolutely not”. Most Villa fans feel exactly the same.
