Aston Villa had another busy summer transfer window in terms of the number of new faces they brought in.
Despite bringing in new players such as Boubacar Kamara and spending money on figures such as Diego Carlos and Leander Dendoncker, there was one deal that took place behind the scenes at Villa Park that we feel deserves a lot of credit.
After securing a one-year deal for Ashley Young as a free agent during the 2021 summer transfer window, the Villans got the Englishman to put pen to paper on a new one-year deal back in July.
Last season saw the 37-year-old make 24 league appearances for Steven Gerrard’s side, across which he played in numerous positions across the pitch and provided two assists as well.
This shows just how reliable and versatile the £49k-per-week figure is for the side, which is presumably why the club were keen to tie him down to a new deal.
His reliability was on show during Villa’s recent 1-1 draw against Manchester City as he replaced the injured Matty Cash in the first half and then put in a solid display for the Villans by making four tackles, four clearances and winning six of the seven duels he was involved in.
Furthermore, Villa journalist Ashley Preece had this to say about Young’s performance in the game in his player ratings report for the Birmingham Mail.
He said: “Superb when he came on and marshalled Phil Foden – 12 years his junior – really well. Young barged De Bruyne off the ball which led to Watkins’ first-half chance. A really strong showing from the veteran. Nothing got past him while Phil Foden will be having nightmares tonight!”
Taking all of this into account and the fact that Gerrard has labelled the veteran as a “manager’s dream”, which proves how much he loves the player and having him available in his squad, it’s safe to say that getting Young to sign a new deal at Villa to keep him at the club for a bit longer has already proved to have been a great thing for the Midlands side.
