Ashley Young completes £17m move to Manchester United
Published:Ashley Young has completed his move to Manchester United following a medical at the reigning Premier League champions.
Young had been linked with a switch to Old Trafford for much of the close season and the England star will be relieved to have finally seeled a switch to the Red Devils.
It is believed that the transfer fee for the England international is around the £17m mark, with Young only having a year remaining on his current Aston Villa contract and showing little sign that he was willing to extend this deal.
Therefore, rather than risk losing the 25-year-old winger on a free transfer next season, Villa seem to have begrudgingly accepted that one of their star players will be leaving the club for the third successive season.
New manager Alex McLeish recently remarked on the Young situation: “It’s not confirmed yet but it does seem likely. In my humble opinion it will be very difficult (to keep hold of him].”
Young will be the second Englishman to arrive at Old Trafford already this summer, following the capture of Phil Jones from Blackburn for a similar fee of £16.5m.
Meanwhile, this will not represent the end of any transfer activity as Sir Alex Ferguson still requires a new goalkeeper to replace the retired Edwin Van Der Sar.
Manchester United’s odds are 7/4 to win the title again next season and with Young and Jones both having gained a decent amount of Premier League experience, this will only help the club’s cause.
Striker Michael Owen also believes that the signing of Young is good news for Manchester United and hailed the capture of the forward as a “great signing” for the Red Devils on his twitter page.
