It’s been a week since Aston Villa re-signed Ashley Young from Inter Milan and supporters are confident he can pick up where he left off in 2011, albeit in a new role.
The 35-year-old’s career has gone from strength to strength in the last decade and culminated in him winning the Serie A title prior to his Villa Park return, so Read Aston Villa have taken a look at where it all started by going down memory lane at Young’s first stint in the Midlands.
Young joined Villa from Watford for £12m in 2007 and went on to make 190 appearances in all competitions, scoring 37 goals with 59 assists. Villa finished in the top-10 of the Premier League every season Young was at the club (6th in 2007/08, 6th in 2008/09, 6th in 2009/10, 9th in 2010/11), reaching the League Cup final and FA Cup semi-final in 2010.
Young played with the likes of Brad Friedel, Richard Dunne, Olof Mellberg, Stewart Downing, James Milner, Stiliyan Petrov, Gareth Barry, John Carew, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Darren Bent among others in his first Villa stint, so it’s no wonder the club came so close to success.
Under Dean Smith, there’s an optimism they can return to that again after finished 11th last season, so time will tell if Young can have a positive effect.
In other news, Aston Villa identify Emile Smith-Rowe as a replacement for Jack Grealish
