United to bid for Ashely Young

Manchester United are rumoured to be considering a surprise big money bid for Aston Villa winger Ashley Young. Sir Alex Ferguson is looking on with interest at the situation at Villa Park as Martin O’Neill battles to keep hold of his prized assets. If the midlands club loses James Milner it could start a chain reaction of dissatisfied players heading for the exit.

Ferguson is known to be a big admirer of England winger Ashley Young and has made noises about making a move previously. Old Trafford chief executive David Gill has stated that the club does have funds to bring in new additions and it could well be that Sir Alex would like to make some more summer signings to help push Chelsea in the title race.

Having already secured the signings of Chris Smalling and Javier Hernandez at relatively cheap prices the debt ridden could still do with more creativity in their midfield as at present there are not that many goal getters to help share the load with Wayne Rooney.

A move for the 25 year old former Watford man would probably cost in the region of £25m and if Villa lost Milner others could also push for a move away from the club that appears to have gone backwards in their chase for that elusive top four spot.

Source: Caught Offside
Date Published: 29 July 2010

Latest Forum Comments

Have your say on United to bid for Ashely Young in the United Online forum

He'd be way overpriced, and for me he's no better than what we've got. Pass.

- Jonesy

Ashley Young? No thanks. We need to give Valencia and Nani the chance to grow into top quality players, which they are both capable of. Obertan has shown promise as well, and Park can do an excellent job on the flanks too. Plus there is even the opportunity to play Rafael and Fabio in more advanced roles. I think we would benefit from a Hargreaves type holding midfielder, but it will all be down to whether Carrick can re-capture his form. I'd like to see him and Fletcher given a solid run in midfield with a more advanced player just ahead of them, someone like Scholes, or dare I say it, Ozil?

- Menace

I've always been a big Carrick fan. Bar a slightly slow start when he first signed for us, for the first three seasons he was outstanding and even early last season he was playing okay, but since the spell where he and Fletcher were covering in defence he lost his way entirely. But he's only 29 and I'm still hopeful he'll rediscover his past form, because there's been no physical deterioration and he's a class act, an excellent passer and reader of the game. Even a couple of his goals last year (Everton/Wolfsburg/City at OT) showed how well he can caress a football.

- Neil

I think people have completely forgotten what Michael Carrick is capable of due to the poor showing of his last season... During 2007-2008, he was actually very very effective and played a huge role in our double success. Likewise the year before that too.. Thing with Carrick is, he isn't a DM who perhaps gets stuck in a lot, or goes in hard like a Keano slide tackling and all that....but his reading of the game is very very under-rated.... Especially against sides who we need to sit back against, Carrick is fantastic at playing the containing game and intercepting passes, it just doesn't get noticed as much as he has fantastic positioning, but perhaps not that engine or drive that someone like Hargreaves or Vieira had.. Fletcher is fantastic as a box to box player for me, and Carrick despite whatever happened last season, I have a lot of faith in in that deep lying central midfielder role.....we have seen him ping cross field balls to the flanks and long through balls as well..(obviously not with the conviction, consistency and pace of Scholes's passing)... God knows what was up with him last season though, but I still really rate him highly..

- Zain

Good player, but the price is crazy and i'd rather we looked for a defensive minded midfield player.

- twoc2002